The Old Days
by MonkeyDNaruto
Summary: They went far in life. Naruto became a Legendary Sage, Sasuke became General of the ANBU Black Ops, Sakura became Head Medic, and Kakashi became the Hokage's adviser. Due to their positions, they haven't talked much over the years. After a mission goes array, they are forced to cooperate in order to survive, and in time, will learn to be Team 7 again. CHAPTERS 1 & 2 ARE OPTIONAL!
1. Before you start the story

**Author's Note: Hey everyone, I just want to warn you guys ahead of time: Chapters 1 & 2 is pretty silly, so I made them optional. You don't have to read it, as it won't have much impact on the story itself. I just wanted to point that out. If you want to start the story for real, start on "Reunion." It's beginning is kinda silly, but it'll get serious.**

**And if you do read the two optional chapters, just bear in mind that Naruto isn't that much of a goofball in future chapters. **


	2. Optional Chap - The Mysterious Shinobi

**Author's note: Okay, so this is my first story ever, at least on this website, so if I do bad, please don't hurt me, I have two dogs to tend to D: However, that does not mean my spelling and grammar are atrocious. I'm fairly good, good enough for you to comprehend my meaning. **

**I personally thought my summary was intriguing. I think you did too, otherwise, why would you be here? So, let's not delay any further.**

The Jounin ran, dodging the trees as he went passed. He had never fought anybody so strong before. He wasn't even sure his past sensei was that strong! He had to run. He had to run fast! The devil was right behind him, and in time, would eventually catch up to him.

"No," he said to himself, "I will not run anymore. If I die, so be it, but I will NOT be humiliated by that…by that DUNDERHEAD!"

He stopped in his tracks and twirled around to face his pursuer.

The hunter halted. "Eh? You stopped?" the predator asked, frowning.

The Jounin winced, his pride hurt. He had heard a mocking tone in the shinobi's voice. _'How dare he? HOW DARE HE?! I…I will not abide by this! I am a Jounin from Getsugakure! To die is one thing, but to die with a wounded pride?' _ He reached for his weapon pack, pulling out a kunai without alerting the predator.

'_I just need to buy myself some time and lower his guard. Then I could make my move…'_

"Okay," the Jounin said, "you win. I can't fight somebody of your stature. I prefer to keep my life. Please, if you could just gently—"

"I wonder how I will get back to Konoha…" the man interrupted. "You lead me out into the forest, and now I have no idea how to get back!"

'_Is this guy for real? Maybe this is just for the best...'_

"Er, as I was saying," the Jounin blurted out, trying to get the shinobi's attention, "if you could gently bind my hands, I'll be more than happy to go back to the village with you. But please don't tighten the rope too tight, my hands—"

"Wow, lying down in my bed would feel sooooo good right about now…" the shinobi interrupted again, daydreaming.

The Jounin had enough. It was obvious that the mysterious shinobi did not respect him enough. He could not tolerate it anymore.

"Teme!" he yelled, charging at the man. _'It's now or never!'_

"WAIT!" the shinobi yelled.

The Jonin halted.

The shinobi walked up to him and adjusted the Jounin's left leg. After it was in place, the shinobi grinned.

"Why'd you do that for?!" the Jounin menacingly asked.

"Your stance was wrong."

The Jonin's face was steaming red. He had humiliated him for the last time! Wasting no time, he charged at the ninja, full of anger.

However, the shinobi wasn't an idiot. Well, he was, but not during a fight. He easily dodged the Jounin, twisting his arm to make the kunai fall out of his hands, and pinned him to a tree, hands above his head.

"Are you going to try anything else?" the shinobi asked with a smirk.

"Just what do you want from me?!" the Jonin asked with desperation in his voice.

"What? Oh, nothing. I just needed a playmate."

There was a pause.

"Stop…"

"Stop what?" the shinobi asked.

"STOP SCREWING AROUND WITH ME!"

The Jounin broke free and swiftly preformed some hand signs.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!"

A fireball appeared in front of the Jonin and headed straight towards the shinobi. However, the shinobi had no reaction to it. The only thing he managed to say was: "Wow, that pales in comparison to Sasuke's."

He easily side-stepped it with almost no effort. _'Pssh, a fireball that size can't touch me. Even Sasuke has a hard time touching me with his fireball.'_

Distracted by the fireball, the shinobi barely had time to see another attack coming.

"Earth Style: Earth Missile Jutsu!" the Jounin roared.

'_Tsk, this guy is a pain in the ass. If he's going to use ninjutsu against me, he might as well make it so they can actually touch me!' _the shinobi said with a heavy sigh. The shinobi grabbed a tree and used it to hop into the air, making the jutsu miss him completely.

He sighed. _'I guess this is the extent of his powers.'_

The shinobi took a shuriken out of his pack and threw it straight towards the Jounin.

The Jounin scoffed. _'I can easily dodge that! He's really underestimating me!'_

"I'm not done yet, friend," the shinobi said, a grin suddenly appearing on his face. "Shuriken: Shadow Clone Technique!"

The one mere shuriken suddenly turned into hundreds!

"Shit!" the Jounin cursed as he was barraged by dozens of shurikens. "Damn, this hurts…so…much…"

After the shurikens had subsided, the shinobi walked over to him. Standing over him, he could see the pain in the man's eye. He took out a pack from his bag and threw it down to the Jounin.

"What…is…that?" the Jonin sputtered.

"What are you thinking? I don't want you dead!" the shinobi said with a smile. "I just want to spar!"

"SPAR MY ASS! YOU MADE HUNDREDS OF SHURIKENS IMPALE ME!"

"Think about it. If they were REAL shurikens, would you even be alive?"

The Jonin pondered it. "Then, why—"

"Just use the medic pack I gave you."

"You mean that pack right there?"

"Nooo, I mean the pack in Amegakure," the shinobi teased.

"Just…who ARE you?"

"Me? Oh, I'm the Legendary Sage," he said as he posed the pose his sensei had taught him, "NARUTO UZUMA—oh, I smell ramen."

**Author's Note: Hope I did well. Please, if you want to see this story continue, you have to review it! I want to know if it's worth continuing or not, based on your opinions. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll continue it either way :P **

**Yes, I gave Naruto a technique that he never learned, but I think he deserves it. To be honest, I'm going to give lots of characters techniques that they don't have in the anime/manga. Do you really want to read my action-packed story when Naruto only spams Kage Bunshin and Rasengan? Didn't think so.**


	3. Optional Chapter - Naruto vs the ANBU

**Author's Note: Holy crap! 5 reviews within 24 hours? Not too shabby, guys. My aim is to get at least 100. Then I'll know if this story is worthy of song or not. **

**I have to thank everyone who reviewed. I feel really appreciated and loved ^_^ I got one complaint though. I got PM'd today by someone who will not be named, saying that they don't want NaruSaku. To answer that: Fuck you. I'm kidding :P However, since this story primarily revolves around Team 7, putting Hinata and Naruto together would just be pointless and awkward. Don't worry though. I will write a NaruHina story, just BE PATIENT! There are dozens of NaruHina fanfics out there.**

**No more delays, so I'll get on with the story **

"I'M BACK EVERYONE!" Naruto yelled at the Konoha entrance. He was too excited to realize that nobody cared. "Wow, it's been far too long. Four months? What should I do first?"

"Naruto-nii-chan!" a voice came from behind him. Turning around, he saw the face of his old friend, Konohamaru. With a smile, Naruto walked up to him.

"Hey, you son-of-a-Hokage," Naruto teased, "it's been a while. How have you been? Learned any new moves? Mastered the perverted jutsu yet?"

Konohamaru blushed. "Well, I've been trying at that perverted jutsu, but Moegi keeps…uh…how do I say this?"

Naruto laughed and placed a hand on his head. "I was kidding. I don't feel like listening to your problems at the moment, especially if it's girl problems. I'm kinda tired."

"Oh, well what do you want to do?" the slightly embarrassed child asked.

"Eat ramen."

"Can't say that surprised me. Well, sorry Naruto-nii-chan, you can't eat at Ichiraku's today."

"Why not?"

"Because it's closed today. The old man is sick."

"Oh…" Naruto said sadly. "Well, I hope he gets better soon."

"You're not the only one who wants to eat ramen, Naruto-nii-chan."

"I don't recall you eating more ramen than me."

"That's because I'm not a ramen addict. Anyway, Naruto-nii-chan, I have to go. Training awaits!"

Naruto gave the boy a grin. "That's the spirit, Konohamaru." And with that, Konohamaru left.

Giving a sigh, the Sage wondered what he was going to do next. "Should I go spar with Lee? Nah, he'll just rant me with all that 'youth' stuff. What about a visit to Sakura-chan?" He smiled at the idea. "Wait, no, she's probably too busy saving lives at the moment. Kakashi-sensei? I can't either. There's no doubt that the Hokage's advisor would be busy."

Giving a nod, he decided where to go next. "YOSH! Time to go visit the teme!"

**At the ANBU HQ:**

As he stepped into the building, he felt a sudden darkness wrap around him. It felt very distant, the statues far different from anything else in Konoha. There were also grunts and shouts from the ANBU training, and to boot, screams of pain.

As he entered the training room, he noticed how organized everyone was. They punched in sync and moved at the exact second they were supposed to. There were no slackers, just a bunch of hard workers.

"Good job everyone!" the Sage yelled. "If it's not too much to ask, do you guys know where Sasuke—"

"INTRUDER!" one of them shouted.

"WHAT, WHERE?!" Naruto screamed. When he realized everyone was staring at him, he noticed where all of this was going.

"Hold on, hold on, I have my forehead protector in my bag!" He reached into his bag and tried to find it to no avail. _'Shit, I must've dropped it somewhere!'_

As he was trying to remember where it was, the ANBU started to surround him. "Come with us peacefully, or else!"

"Actually," Naruto suddenly said, an idea appearing out of nowhere, "this will be a good chance to see what that teme taught you."

"Wrong choice." Naruto could tell he was smiling underneath his mask. "EVERYONE, ATTACK!"

"YOSH! LET ME CHECK OUT YOUR TAIJUTSU!"

He began fist fighting with everyone in the room. To his surprise, he was being pushed back. _'Wow, not bad. I see that teme—'_

Suddenly, a punch slammed across his face, throwing him a couple of meters up. _'And their punches pack a punch, too!'_

Landing successfully, he stood still as the ANBU surrounded him again. "I will say it once more. Surrender, or else!"

The Sage stayed still.

After about five seconds, one of the ANBU decided he wasn't about to give up. "We tried to do it the easy way…ATTACK!" They started charging towards Naruto again.

"Things…might be different this time!" he said, looking up to reveal yellow eyes with a black stripe across it. To boot, there was a shade of red around his eyes. "Let's see how you fare with Sage Mode!"

Three ANBU members successfully hit Naruto: One across the face, one in the stomach, and one in the shin. To their surprise, the Sage barely even flinched. "Bitches," he began, "THIS is Sage Mode."

With that, he grabbed the ANBU who punched him across the face and hurled him towards the group of ANBU, which knocked them down with a tremendous force.

He then kneed the ANBU who punched him in the stomach in his own stomach, making the ANBU cough up blood in his own mask.

Finally, he kicked the ANBU who kicked his shins right across the face, breaking his mask in the process.

"Taijutsu, Naruto Uzumaki wins." He grinned, mocking the ANBU force. "Next, NINJUTSU!"

"I see. You want to try us all in ninjutsu? Terrible idea," one of the ANBU said. "Lightning Style: Lightning Dragon!" A giant dragon made fully of lightning appeared and charged towards Naruto.

"Better than that Jounin's fireball," Naruto said with a grin. "Summoning Jutsu!" And with that, Gamabunta appeared.

"Hey Naruto, long time no see, why'd you—HOLY OILS, WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?!"

"It's good to see you too, you old shit toad. Now, PLAN B!" Gamabunta understood right away.

"You got it, boss! Toad Oil Bullet!"

Along with Gamabunta's oil bullet, Naruto added his own jutsu to it. "Wind Style: Wind Cyclone Jutsu!"

The mix between the two not only destroyed the dragon, (**A/N: Remember, lightning is inferior to wind.)** but thanks to the oil, the empowered jutsu was still strong, and was aiming towards the group of ANBU.

"Yep, we're fucked," one of them said, and without a doubt, he was right.

The jutsu swept everyone up, only to drown them in the oil. The force of the wind technique pounded almost all the oil onto the stone wall, where it broke.

After the jutsu had died down, Naruto walked over and stood over one of them, just like he did with the Jounin.

"I would test out your genjutsu, but I don't really have talent in that."

"Please, don't kill me. I…my family—"

"Why does everyone think I'm going to kill them?" Naruto said in shock.

"Jee, I don't know," another ANBU, who was laying hurt on the ground said, "maybe it's because one doesn't simply go into an armed compound filled with skilled men and fight them to death!"

"Please, I wasn't even trying!" the Sage bragged.

"Yeah, right."

"You haven't seen Bijuu Mode, have you?"

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY MEN, YOU BAKA?!" a voice in the shadows called out. Stepping into the light, the person was no more than the teme, Sasuke Uchiha.

**Author's Note: Yes, I used jutsus that didn't exist in the anime/manga. You gotta admit though, it does go good with the story. I hope I did well. There won't always this much violence on every chapter, but there will be some. I don't know if this chapter is short or long, so you guys tell me. Review please! :D**


	4. Ch1 - Reunion

**Author's Note: Okay, it's obvious that you guys want chapters to be longer from here on out. I'll do it, but you might have to wait a little longer. Lucky for you guys, I already planned for this chapter to be long, so it won't take AS long as the next incoming chapters.**

**Enjoy :D**

"Oh, hey Sasuke," Naruto called out.

"'_Oh, hey Sasuke' _my ass!" Sasuke mocked. "Naruto, I get that you're trying to get stronger. However, that doesn't mean you can go around and beat up all my ANBU!"

"No, wait, don't try to pin this on me! I came here looking for you, when these guys tried to jump me!"

"They wouldn't 'jump' anybody unless they had sufficient proof. Why didn't you just show them your forehead protector?"

"Well…I think I dropped it somewhere…"

"Baka."

"Teme."

"Hmph." Sasuke said, going over to help up his fellow comrades. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, but damn, sir, that guy…he's a demon in human form!" the pained ANBU muttered. "He's probably even stronger than you, sir!"

"Tch. He's a billion years too early to match an Uchiha." Sasuke told him.

"You're TWO billion years too early to match an Uzumaki." Naruto corrected.

"What was that, baka?!"

"You heard me, teme!"

"What did you even come here for, anyways?!" Sasuke said.

"I…uh…" Naruto said, scratching his head, trying to remember what in the world he was doing there for. "Maybe I just came here to kick the ANBU's asses."

"It apparently looks like it," Sasuke said using his death stare.

"Don't blame me just because they're weak. It's your fault you didn't train them hard enough." Naruto insulted.

"That's because I didn't train them against hacks!"

"What hacks?"

"Sage Mode."

"How are you so positive that I used Sage Mode?!" Naruto asked.

"Come on, Naruto, we both know that without your Sage Mode, well…"

"Well, what?" Naruto said.

"Well, you're just a…sack of shit," the Uchiha answered with a smirk. Sasuke had half expected Naruto to start a fight with him, but to his utmost surprise, he didn't. He just stood there. After about five seconds of silence, Naruto spoke out again.

"Maybe…if you were tough enough to awaken the Sharingan at the time, maybe your parents—"

"Don' . . ." Sasuke said, his hands transformed into a fist.

Naruto gave a mocking grin. "I'm just saying, if you awakened the Sharingan at the time, maybe…just maybe…your parents might have lived, and you wouldn't have turned into an emo avenger."

There was a pause.

"Naruto…I tolerated almost everything you did. I put up with your pranks. I forgave you for beating up my ANBU. Now…" As Sasuke looked up into Naruto eyes, Naruto saw that he had hit Sasuke's sore spot.

"AMATERSU!"

"Shit! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A shadow clone suddenly appeared in front of Naruto, blocking the original from the deadly back flames.

"TEME! THAT MOVE WOULD'VE KILLED ME!"

"I was aiming to. . ! CHIDORI!"

"Damnit, Sasuke, ever heard of a joke?!"

"NEVER JOKE ABOUT THE UCHIHA!" Sasuke yelled, charging.

"Fine, play it like that. But don't blame me when you wind up dead, teme! RASENGAN!" Naruto said, also charging.

Right before their devastating moves connected, two hands suddenly grabbed their arms and threw them both in the opposite direction. Naruto didn't know what the hell was going on. He thought at first that it was one of Sasuke's genjutsu. Sasuke, however, remembered. _'Tch, how long do you intend on babysitting us, you perverted-Sharingan-stealer?' _

As Naruto landed, he took a quick glance up at a man…a man with a mask. Realizing at once who it was, Naruto smiled so wildly, he might've looked like he had mental retardation. "KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

"Jeez, you two. I swear, if I'm not around you guys, the whole village might get destroyed!"

Naruto put his hand behind his back. "Sorry, Kakashi-sensei, but that teme over there can't take a frickin' joke."

"When did he ever?" Kakashi teased with a small grin.

"Hmph," Sasuke said, leaving the conversation to go help his ANBU comrades.

"Forget him, sensei," Naruto said, grinning wider than ever, "it's so good to see you again!"

"I was about to say the same thing," Kakashi replied, scratching the tip of his mask. "Four months, correct?"

"Mhm. During those four months, I've gotten stronger. Even stronger than you, sensei."

"No kidding. Apparently, students always surpass their masters. Well, all except for me," the masked man said, thinking about his own sensei, Minato.

"What are you doing here anyway, Kakashi-sensei? I thought you weren't an ANBU member anymore."

"You're right. I'm not. Why would I follow my own student's orders?" Kakashi said, pointing at Sasuke. Naruto laughed.

"Then what're you—"

"I'm here because I heard reports of strange explosions and screaming from the ANBU HQ. I thought it was a village invasion. I never thought that it was the Konoha's #1 Knuckle-Head Ninja."

Naruto groaned. "I'm a Sage now, and you still call me that?"

"I said #1, didn't I?" Kakashi asked, intrigued in the conversation.

"Yeah, you did. You also said 'Knuckle-Head Ninja."

Kakashi laughed this time. "It's good that you're back. The village has been lacking in…humor in the last four months. Are you here to stay?"

"Yep. Unless there's an important mission I have to take, I'm always going to be here."

"Good," the faceless man said. "Oh, you might want to go visit somebody in the hospital. I'm sure she's DYING to see you return."

"Who is—" Naruto suddenly blushed. "Well, I guess. But she's busy saving lives right now, isn't she?"

"It's her lunch break."

"Oh," Naruto said, blushing even deeper. "Well, if you think I should…BYE SENSEI!" He started running 50 miles per hour towards the hospital. Looking at him, Kakashi couldn't help but smile.

**At a local Konoha café:**

"Man," a pink haired girl said, "today was exhausting!" The girl took a seat at her table.

Her blonde friend agreed, joining her. "People should just stop getting hurt."

"It's the ninja world. That's impossible."

"You're probably right…" the blonde admitted. There was a silence as they took a look at their menus. "Hey, Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you believe…in a world where peace reigns?"

That sounded familiar to the pink haired girl. Then it hit her…

_**(Flashback)**_

"_**Naruto…do you have to go?" Sakura said, her eyes filled with tears. She was witnessing one of her closest friends leave her. Naruto had already said goodbye to everybody, but Sakura still didn't want him to leave.**_

_**Naruto smiled. "Yeah, I do. I need to go after Ero-sennin's dream, and the only way I can achieve that is by getting stronger."**_

"_**Can't you get stronger in Konoha? We have a training ground with lots of great Jounin."**_

"_**Nothing is better than personal experience, Sakura-chan."**_

"_**But…I don't want you to—"**_

_**Naruto walked up to her and cupped her cheek, making the pink haired girl blush heavily. "Sakura-chan. Do you believe in a world where peace reigns?"**_

_**The question confused her. Not the question itself, but the fact that Naruto asked her something like that. "I…don't know. It's the ninja world, Naruto. Peace can't truly exist if there are people like Orochimaru around."**_

_**Naruto slowly smiled at her answer and started walking away. Sakura started crying as she saw her closest friend leave her. Before he was away from view, Sakura heard him say: "I believe in it."**_

_**(Flashback ends)**_

"Sakura?" the blonde haired girl said, snapping her fingers. "Sakura!"

"Huh? What?"

"Were you daydreaming? It's probably about that cute doctor that just joined today, right?"

"I'm not like you, Ino."

"What does that mean?" Ino said, frowning.

"I don't get attracted to somebody just for their looks."

"Oh, I see. You're the cheesy type of girl who goes after guys who have a 'good heart', am I right?"

"It's not cheesy. It's the truth. True love—"

"You gotta admit that doctor was cute," Ino said.

There was a short silence.

"He was," Sakura said, giggling. Ino giggled too.

"SAKURA-CHAAAAAAAAAANNN!" a voice called from the distance.

"What was that? Did somebody scream your name?" Ino asked. When she looked at Sakura, she noticed that she had a huge grin on her face.

"What is it?"

"Ino, don't you recognize that voice?" Sakura said, gesturing her to listen more carefully.

"SAAAAAAAKUUURRAAA-CHAAAAAAANNN!"

Ino suddenly recognized it right away, smiling along with Sakura. "No way…he's back?"

As if on cue, a teenage boy with spikey blonde hair came into view, waving like a freak and shouting like a buffoon.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled back, running towards him.

'_Should I follow her? Nah, those two need some privacy.' _Ino smiled for Sakura.

When Naruto and Sakura saw each other, Sakura immediately ran up to him and started bear-hugging him. Yeah, sure, it hurt like hell for Naruto. He decided to let it pass, though, as it was definitely worth it.

"Naruto! I missed you so much! The village was so bland without you! Lee keeps yelling about youth, Shikamaru keeps saying how 'troublesome' everything is, Choji keeps eating—"

Naruto started laughing uncontrollably. "Sounds like nothing's changed since I was here, Sakura-chan. Well, everything but you."

Sakura pulled back from her hug. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Naruto grinned. "It means you've gotten even more beautiful since I last saw you."

It took a second for her to process everything he said before she started blushing like an idiot. _'Stop it, Sakura, it's just one compliment. You've heard this thousands of times before from other people. But the way this baka says it…feels good.'_

Before they could talk anymore, Kakashi ran up to them. "I guess tears and blushes are ways to greet each other?" he asked. Naruto and Sakura blushed.

"What are you doing here, anyway, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said, trying to avoid the question.

"Word from the Hokage: 'Get those assholes here ASAP. It's time for a mission.'"

**Author's Note: I hope this is a sufficient length. If you want it to be longer, just say so. Review please!**


	5. Ch2 - The Mission

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews guys. Seriously, I was about to stop the story seeing that I barely got any reviews on the last chapter. I thought I did something wrong in the story. I really appreciate it **

**I'm going to answer a few questions here, so this will kind of be a long author's note. **

**1) Thank you for supporting my OC jutsus idea. I don't like how Naruto only has two primary jutsus: Kage Bunshin and some type of Rasengan. So in this story, I'm giving him two nature affinities: Wind and Earth. My idea for his second affinity was orignally going to be lightning, but seeing as Sasuke already has that affinity, I think it'd be better to even it out more. **

**2) If you think this story is going to be all mushy-gushy with romance, you're wrong. There is romance in this story, but the story doesn't revolve around it. It's more of a "survival, teamwork, adventure" kind of story with a little sprinkle of romance in it. **

**3) I'm not going to make Naruto or Sasuke or ANYBODY too overpowered. Just because I give them more jutsus then they originally had doesn't mean that they'll be able to take on a whole nation of Jounin. Just saying. **

**4) Yes, Naruto will keep his badassness without losing his "Naruto." I hope I'm doing Sasuke right. I'm not used to writing stories about emo pricks :/ No offence to you Sasuke lovers. **

**Alright, I'm done with the Author's Note for this chapter, so let's get this chapter started.**

The Hokage Mansion hasn't changed much since Naruto last saw it. There was small graffiti here and there, but nothing to revolutionary. It's still the place where Naruto would want to live in when he becomes Hokage.

As Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi stepped into the building, they encountered a familiar face. A pig's face. "Tonton!" Naruto cried out. The little pig squealed. Right behind their pink friend, Shizune appeared, apparently trying to catch Tonton.

"Tonton, stop making me play tag with you all the—Naruto?"

Naruto smiled. "It's good to see you again, Shizune-san," he said with a bow.

"You…" Shizune seemed to be in a serious thought.

"What is it? I'm handsomer, aren't I?" Naruto bragged.

"No, not really," Shizune replied, making Naruto frown. "I was going to say you look a lot like Jiraiya-sama."

"That's a good thing, right?"

"It is, except…I hope you didn't on take on his any of his 'hobbies…'"

"No, I didn't," Naruto said blandly. "I hope his 'hobbies' rest in peace with him…"

Shizune put her hand on his shoulder, giving him a warm reassurance. "He was a great man. Actually, I take that back. I don't think perverts are good people, but he had a good heart. Not to mention that he was a great shinobi."

Naruto gave a feint laugh. "And a great sensei at that…" There was a couple seconds of silence as everyone mourned Jiraiya, especially Naruto. Kakashi was the one to break the silence.

"Jiraya-sama," Kakashi said, "please forgive me, but we can't mourn you for too long. Who knows how mad Tsunade is at the moment? You, of all people, should know that."

"Sensei's got a point," Sakura said.

Naruto sighed. How he longed for his father-like sensei to come home. He knew he couldn't, though. The only way for him to see Jiraiya was to die himself. He wasn't ready for that yet. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go."

Kakashi turned from Naruto and faced Shizune, bowing. "We'll take our leave now."

"Please, go ahead. It's good to see all of you again," Shizune said with a warm smile. Naruto might've imagined it, but the smile looked like it was directed primarily at Kakashi. He could tell that Shizune was blushing as well.

"Yes, well, we'll see you around," Kakashi said, taking his leave with the others following. Sakura matched her sensei's pace and whispered, "Hey, sensei, I think Shizune has a crush on you."

"You noticed it too?" Naruto asked. When he looked at his sensei, he didn't even flinch at the news.

"I'm too old for that," Kakashi said with his faceless grin.

"Yeah, you're right. Aren't you like 60 years old?"

"I'm 30…"

Sakura knocked Naruto in the head, making Naruto wince in pain. "Sakura-chan, why'd you hit me?"

Sakura scoffed at him. "Naruto, we've been with Kakashi-sensei for almost all our lives, yet you don't even know his age?"

"Can you blame me?" Naruto answered. "He has white hair, and his face is covered. How would I know how old he was?"

"You could've asked him."

"Enough," Kakashi said. "I don't mind, Sakura. Naruto will always be Naruto. We're here, anyways."

The pair hadn't noticed it, but they were right in front of the office door. They could hear Tsunade raging about something with Sasuke. "Uh-oh," Kakashi said, "looks like Sasuke is causing trouble with the Hokage…again." Kakashi proceeded to open the door. Once the door was open, he gave himself a facepalm.

"I dare you to say that again, teme!" Tsunade yelled.

"You tell him, baa-chan!" Naruto cheered, just to receive another punch from Sakura.

"I meant what I said, Hokage-sama," Sasuke said with ease.

"Um, if I may," Kakashi interrupted, what EXACTLY did he say?"

The female Hokage pointed to the Uchiha. "That boy told me that woman can't rule over a village!"

Sasuke shrugged. "I'm just saying—"

"I think we should keep away from this conversation," Sakura suggested. "Tsunade-sama, you said something about a mission, correct?"

The Hokage sat down on her chair, trying to keep her cool. "That's right."

Naruto rushed up to her. "What's the mission, baa-chan?"

Tsunade smiled at that. "Still calling me that, eh? No respect for the Hokage?"

Naruto had a plain look on his face.

Tsunade sighed. _'It's good to see him again, though. Never thought I'd miss the word 'baa-chan' so much.' _

"You still didn't answer my question," Naruto said.

"This mission is an S-rank mission, and is a very crucial one at that."

Naruto smiled at the words 'S-rank'. "So, what's the mission, baa-chan?"

"There is a village off the coast of Amegakure. There have been sightings of a man…a man with a mask."

"What is this masked man called, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked.

"Apparently, he's called 'Yajai', and is immensely powerful."

"How strong is this 'Yajai'?" Sasuke asked with respect, which was a weird change.

"Well, let's see," Tsunade said, pulling out a paper from a folder. "I sent 10 ANBU's, 4 Chunin, and one Jounin. None of them came back alive."

Sakura gulped. _'A man capable of killing all those people at once? What chance do we have?' _She looked over at Kakashi sensei, who was almost as surprised as her, except he didn't look scared. Looking over at Naruto and Sasuke, she saw that they were smiling. _'Oh, please, don't tell me there excited about this.' _

"YOOOOSSSSHHHH!" Naruto screamed. "I'M GOING TO KICK THAT MASKED MAN'S ASS!"

"Hn," Sasuke said, "you couldn't do shit to him. If anyone is going to kill him, it'll be me."

Naruto smirked. "You and what army?"

"The army of Amaterasu and Susanoo."

"What about my army of Sage Mode of Bijuu Mode?" Naruto asked.

"Pales in comparison to mine."

"You looking to start a fight, teme?!"

"Anytime, baka!"

"Not in my office, you two," Tsunade scolded. "This 'Yajai' is no small matter. It will take all of you to defeat him."

"Sensei," Sakura asked, "how come you chose us for this job? I mean, the other teams are available too."

"Why? Let's see: We've got a Sage, the General of the ANBU, the Konoha Hospital's Head Medic, and Copy Cat Kakashi, aka my advisor. Why do you think?"

"I see," Sakura stated.

"Don't let your guard down, though! You guys might be strong now, but Yajai is not somebody to take lightly. He's very cunning."

"So where should we start, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked, becoming more and more interested in the mission at hand.

"First, you guys need to go to that village near Amegakure and get as much information as you can from the locals. Then, you have to find a boy…and protect him."

"Protect…a boy? What kind of S-rank mission is this?" Naruto said bluntly.

"This boy," Tsunade said, "is critical in the mission. For some reason, Yajai is pursuing him. For what reason, I do not know. All I know is that the boy must be protected at all costs!"

"Then what?" Kakashi asked.

"Yajai should appear before the boy at some point. Your job is to capture him, dead or alive. I think it'd be safer if he was dead, but if he could be brought back alive, do so."

"Understood," Kakashi said.

Naruto groaned. "So we have to WAIT for him to come out?"

Tsunade smiled. "I'll be worth it, Naruto. You'll have a full-fledged fight in your hands soon."

"I get it," Naruto said with a brighter expression.

As the team left the building, Kakashi told everyone to go pack up. Everyone agreed to meet at Ichiraku's right after they pack.

When Naruto got to his house, he took a moment to glance around the room. _'Everything looks the same…' _As he was packing, he heard a knock on his door.

"Who is it?" Naruto yelled out.

"It's me, you baka," Sasuke's voice called back. "Hurry up and pack before I Kirin your house."

"Kirin my house and I'll Rasenshuriken yours."

"Hn," Sasuke said, leaving. Naruto finished packing a couple seconds later, about to leave, until he saw the portrait of Team 7. Kakashi with his grin, Sakura with her cute smile, Sasuke with his bland face, and himself… _'Those days…'_

He left the picture standing up straight on his counter and left his house. After a few minutes of walking, he finally reached Ichiraku's. Noticing that he was the first one there, he took a look at the restaurant. It was still closed. _'Man, I wish I could eat one more bowl before I leave. Who knows how long I'll be gone for?'_

He couldn't think anymore when Sasuke and Sakura appeared simultaneously. "Hey, Naruto," Sakura greeted. Sasuke just smirked. "Kakashi-sensei's not here yet?"

"Not yet. He's always late," Naruto stated, remembering the times he was late three years ago.

"Some things never change," Sasuke said. It was a rare moment, but Naruto actually agreed to the Uchiha's statement.

They waited for an hour before the white-haired man decided to show up. "Hey guys," Kakashi said. "Sorry I was late; this kid threw his ball in the Forest of Death, so I had to—"

"LIAR!" Naruto and Sakura screamed in harmony. Sasuke just shook his head.

"Anyways, are we all set?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah," Naruto said. "Now, let's go kick ass."

"Not yet, Naruto," Kakashi said, "we still need to protect that boy."

"Oh, yeah," Naruto said.

"Let's get a head start, we should arrive there in a couple days," Sasuke suggested.

Naruto started to tease him. "Good idea! I never thought of that!"

"You never think of anything."

Seeing as his insult backfired, he looked down at his feet, with Kakashi and Sakura laughing.

"Let's go," Kakashi ordered. Everyone agreed, and they happily left the village. They didn't know, however, that the future has different plans for them. Returning to the village would be near impossible.

**Author's Note: Yup, a new villain! Did you guys think the masked man was Tobi? Noooo, I wouldn't do that. Tobi's identity was already revealed, so there was no fun in that. This is a new villain with a new mysterious identity. Please review! I know I sound desperate, but that's because I am D:**


	6. Ch3 - The Boy

**Author's Note: I'm going to skip the introductions this chapter. I'm kinda not in the mood. But thanks for the reviews though, it really means a lot to me.**

**I have a few things to say:**

**This is directed at "Guest." Yes, I'm well aware of how strong Gamabunta's Toad Oil Bullet is, but here's the thing: First, the combined jutsu itself was weakened after impacting the dragon, even if lightning is inferior to wind. Second, my OC jutsu "Wind Style: Wind Cyclone Jutsu" is like a mini tornado. It's not the type of jutsu that hits and kills the target head on. Also, notice how I said "swept." The jutsu merely swept them off their feet. The Toad Oil Bullet is just a strengthener. Don't think that I'm nagging you, because I'm not. I love to hear criticism. It makes me a better writer.**

**No, in this story, Naruto is not obsessed with Sakura. He just has a slight crush which grows bigger overtime. Personally, I find his obsession with Sakura kind of annoying. I actually support NaruHina (I'm sorry if you don't), as Hinata has a better personality to me. So basically, Naruto will not be drooling over Sakura in this story, though they will be dating by the end. Maybe even more! **

**I like my idea for this new villain. He has an identity, so you guys are welcome to guess. As the story progresses, you'll probably have a better chance of guessing him right. Think of him as the new Tobi **

**I'm about done, so let's get on with the story. **

"Run! Hurry, run away!" the father shouted to his family. The wife was reluctant, hugging her son tightly. She couldn't just leave her husband to die.

"No, we'll die toge—"

"NO! YOU MUST LIVE AND RAISE OUR SON! YOU GUYS ARE THE ONLY ONES THAT MATTER TO ME!" the man yelled, hearing a thud as the front door slammed open. "HURRY!"

The wife hesitated, tears dripping down her cheek, but she obeyed. Carrying her son, she rushed out the back door. "You better come back alive!" she said to her husband. When she was out of view, the husband turned to the intruder.

The intruder had a mask covering his entire face, so he couldn't tell who it was. The mask was designed with a devil's face on it. The intruder himself was buff, and looked like he had lost his pinky finger.

"You will not touch them!" the father yelled with relinquishing fear in his voice.

The man shook his head. "You're only delaying the inevitable. I need your son's—"

"I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE AFTER, AND I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH A HAIR ON HIM!" the father said, rasing a kitchen knife.

"I don't have time to waste on people like you. I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself. Get out of my sight before—"

Before he could finish his words, the father charged the intruder.

"This…" the masked man said, "this is the reason why peace cannot exist. But I'll create peace…and for that, I need what your son has." The masked man disarmed the man and placed his hand on the father's head.

"Hidden Jutsu: Contemporary Scatter!" the masked man shouted, performing some quick hand seals with his other hand. The father didn't feel anything at first, but slowly, his head began to hurt. The pain increased by the second until finally…his head exploded. His body fell to the ground, landing with a thud.

"I told you," the masked man started, "you were only delaying the inevitable." He placed a hand on the dead man's chest and performed some seals with one hand.

"Hidden Jutsu: Peon Revival Technique!"

Suddenly, the dead man started to rise until he was standing on both legs again. Despite not having a head, the body was able to move freely. As the body was getting accustomed to where it was, the masked man put his hand on the body's chest again and yelled, "Hidden Jutsu: Apocalyptic Adrenaline!"

"Suddenly, the zombie-like man was going crazy, flipping all the furniture over, making holes in the wall.

"Alright, my minion," the masked man commanded, "go and regroup with the others, and then find that little twerp and bring him back to me, dead or alive. I don't care what you do with the woman. Just bring me the kid."

Still crazy but willing, the zombie-man obeyed his orders, leaving the house.

"For peace…I'll do anything. Even if it means killing you, Naruto…"

**SCENE ENDS**

"I'M TIRED!" Naruto complained.

"How can you be tired already?" Sakura answered.

"What do you mean 'already'? We've been walking for a long time."

"The village gates are still in view…" Kakashi grimly answered. _'This Naruto…sure, he looks exactly like his father, but he has his mother's personality. Can't say for sure if that's a good or bad mix.'_

"You gotta hand it to the baka for complaining the most," Sasuke teased.

Naruto gave him a death glare, only for Sasuke to give him one back.

"Stop it you two," Sakura commanded. "I swear, it's like you two are the new Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha."

"Seeing as the First Hokage beat that Uchiha whore means I'm better," Naruto said.

"Thanks a lot, Sakura," Sasuke said now giving her a death stare. She just weakly smiled.

"Let's pick up the pace, guys. We should get there as soon as possible."

"My thoughts exactly," Sasuke agreed.

They kept their pace till night, dodging trees and jumping like madmen, until Kakashi told them to set up camp. "We need to take a short break and continue on in the morning," he said.

Naruto didn't look too please with that. "I don't know, sensei. I mean, what if that boy is in trouble now? Yajai could be standing over his dead body at the moment. We don't have time to rest. We should keep—"

Kakashi put his hand on Naruto's head. "You've got a good heart, Naruto, and I'm glad that you care for his safety. However, if you're not in good enough condition, do you think you could beat Yajai?"

Naruto considered that and what Tsunade had said about Yajai's power. "I guess you're right. But we'll have to get up early."

Kakashi smiled. "Deal."

"Before we sleep," Sakura started, "do you think we can eat first?"

"I agree," Naruto said. Sasuke didn't say anything, but he looked hungry as well.

"Okay, let's build a campfire first, and then stuff our faces, okay?"

"Okay," they all said in unison. When the fire was up, everyone went into their packs and brought out something to eat. Naruto brought noodles and chicken, Sasuke brought TV food, Sakura brought a couple of granola bars, and Kakashi brought some rice with vinegar. Kakashi had to turn around to eat, as he didn't want anyone to see under his mask.

Though the meal was good, the group found it awkward as nobody could think up of a conversation. Silence and awkwardness filled the air for about half their meal until Sakura started asking fond questions.

"So, Sasuke, did you do anything interesting the other day?" Sakura asked, trying to bring up a conversation.

"Not really," Sasuke replied, ending the conversation.

"Okay…uh, Naruto, how's the Sage life?" she asked the blonde.

"Hard," he answered, also ending the conversation.

She knew it was pointless, but she decided to ask her sensei anyway. "Hey Kakashi-sensei, how—"

"Shh," he said, putting a finger to his lips to indicate silence. "Someone's coming."

They hadn't noticed it, but they heard footsteps coming their direction. Everybody suddenly armed themselves, kunai and shurikens at the ready. Then two figures suddenly appeared, a woman with a boy in her arms.

"Please…" the woman began, "help us…"

The woman looked tired, but even when she was, the group couldn't notice how beautiful she was. She had brown eyes and hair, her hair reaching down to her hip. She was wearing a purple-pink dress that reached down to her toes.

The boy was the real stunner though. He had a funky fashion. He wore huge sunglasses that covered his eyes and had a hat on his head that had the letter, "R." His shirt was rainbow colored, yet his pants were death black.

As the woman fainted, Kakashi ran up to them and caught the woman and the boy. He couldn't see the boy's eyes, but he could tell that he was asleep.

"Sakura!" Kakashi called to her. "Tend to these people and see to it that they get a proper place to rest."

"But sensei," she began, "we only have four sleeping bags."

"They can use mine," he said.

Naruto couldn't help but admire his sensei's constant care for people. It was inspiring. There weren't many people like that left in the world, which was a shame.

Sakura tucked the mother and son into the sleeping bag, making sure they both were confortable.

"How are they, Sakura?" Naruto asked.

"They're fine. The son is completely fine and healthy. It doesn't look like anything's happened to him. The mom, however, is in a worse state. She is tired, and I noticed that she had cuts on the bottom of her leg from bush thorns."

"The poor things…" Naruto pitied.

"What were they running from?" Sasuke asked.

"Whoever they are, making people suffer this much is earning them a Tailed Beast Bomb in the chest," Naruto said angrily.

"Something we can both agree on," Sasuke said. It was weird, as Sasuke seemed to care for them. _'Maybe he's changed for the better…' _Naruto thought.

"Did you heal the woman's cuts?" Kakashi asked.

"I bandaged them. Don't worry, she'll be fine. She just needs some rest," Sakura assured.

"JINTON!" the woman screamed, sitting up straight. She apparently had a nightmare. She looked down by her side to see the boy sleeping soundly next to her.

"Oh, Jinton, thank God you're okay!" the woman said, putting her hand on his cheek. It took her awhile but she jumped when she noticed the four ninjas by her side.

"You…you won't hurt us?" the woman asked.

Sakura gave her a smile to reassure her. "We won't lay a single finger on you. Well, actually, I did touch you in order to heal the cuts on your legs."

The woman looked down and saw her legs all bandaged up. "Thank you very much. I'd like to stay in your company, but I'm afraid I can't."

"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked.

"We were being chased by this…by this masked man..."

"Let me guess: That boy over there is the one we're supposed to protect, and the one chasing you is the masked man, Yajai, am I right?" Sasuke guessed.

"Protect? And that 'boy'?" the woman asked, surprised.

"We're Konoha shinobi, ma'am," Kakashi answered. "Our mission is to protect that boy from a masked man named Yajai."

"Are you sure he is the one?" Naruto asked. "How are you so sure, teme?"

"Look at the scenario: A little boy is running away from a masked man. Does that happen every day?"

"I see your point," Naruto admitted. "So, where's the masked man?"

"Ma'am? Are you sure it's only the masked man chasing you?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, there was only one person who broke into my house, so yes, I'm sure. Why do you ask?" the woman replied.

"Because I smell multiple hostiles coming here right now."

**Author's Note: How'd I do? I hope I did things well here, setting up the mystery and stuff. As always, review. **

**Side note: If you have any suggestions for the story, PM me and I'll consider it. I welcome ideas with open arms. **


	7. Ch4 - Team 7 vs Yajai

**Author's Note: Sorry guys, this chapter is a little late. I was busy yesterday, so I didn't have to time write it. **

** Failure: I'm sorry this story didn't meet your expectations then, but that was the beginning. Almost no story has a serious beginning. Try reading my further chapters. Maybe you'll see a difference. Even if you don't like it, I got others who do. **

"What do you mean 'multiple' hostiles?" the woman asked in panic. Although she didn't want to believe it, she could now hear their footsteps. They were close.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura," Kakashi ordered. "You guys know what to do."

"On it," Naruto said as the teenagers moved to surround the mother and son. Taking a kunai out of their packs, they stood in position and waited for the enemies to come.

"I'm going to go take a look," Kakashi told them.

"Hold on, sensei!" Sakura shouted. "You shouldn't go alone. They might be high level shinobi. Besides, they might come from our direction. You—"

Kakashi didn't move for a second, adjusting his forehead protector up to his forehead, revealing the Sharingan. Then he looked back and grinned, saying: "Don't worry. I won't let them touch you. Not even if it costs me my life."

The grouped teenagers all had shocked expressions on their face. Those words were the words he had told them during their fight with Zabuza, three years ago. Naruto turned his hand into a fist. _'Not again…I can't just stay here and be as helpless as I was three years ago...'_

Sasuke seemed to feel exactly like Naruto. Both of them had grown strong. They weren't the worthless little maggots that faced Zabuza three years ago. They had changed.

"Sakura," Sasuke muttered.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"Do you think you can stay here and protect these two while this baka and I…let loose?"

Sakura frowned. "Oi, I'm no housemaid. I've gotten strong too."

"No doubt," Naruto answered. "However, we can't afford our only medic getting hurt. And besides, with your brute strength, you can protect these two, right?"

"I…I guess. But next time, you two stay back and I'll let loose, got it?"

"Deal," they both said in harmony, rushing up to their sensei.

"Oi, what are you two doing here? I thought I told you to—"

"Can it, you frickin' white-haired pervert," Sasuke said to Naruto's astonishment. "Let's just kick some butt so we can sleep, okay?"

Kakashi didn't seem to take offence to the young Uchiha's "white-haired pervert" remark. He simply nodded and looked towards the trees. The enemies were about to arrive.

The first figure appeared. He was a short, skinny zombie-like man. He seemed to have lost his head. The second figure appeared behind him. He was a huge, muscular man who seemed to have also lost his head. As the other two figures came into view, they took note that ALL of them had lost their heads.

"Zombies, eh?" Sasuke said in a disappointing tone. "Tch. Some 'hostiles.'" Without another word, he charged.

"Lightning Style: Chidori True Spear!" Sasuke screamed, a lightning sword emitting from his hand. The sword aimed for the skinny zombie. To his surprise, the zombie's stomach opened, functioning like a mouth, and ate the jutsu! Closing the stomach-mouth, the zombie suddenly became fat, having absorbed the whole jutsu.

"The fuck is this?" Sasuke cursed, surprised. Before he could say anything else, the zombie took a deep breath. In a low, monotone voice, he yelled:

"Devil Style: Enhanced Reflection!"

The zombie had spit back the Chidori True Spear, but it was different. The lightning was originally blue, but now it had turned black. The jutsu also looked sharper and deadlier.

Thanks to the Uchiha's Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan, Sasuke managed to dodge in time, and thank God he did. The jutsu, with lightning speed, passed Sasuke and started cutting down countless trees in the forest.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled out. He ran to go help his friend/rival, but was intercepted by the big, muscular zombie.

"I don't have time to screw around with you. Get out of my way!" Naruto yelled.

The zombie didn't move.

Angered, Naruto started charging up his signature move in his right hand. **(A/N: Yes, in this story, Naruto can use Rasengan without clones.)**

"Rasengan!" he screamed, thrusting his arm towards the big zombie. To his dismay, the zombie swung a heavy punch at the Rasengan, breaking it and his wrist.

Jumping back, he tried to tend to his wrist. "Damn, my wrist!" he said to himself, trying to relocate his bone. The zombie didn't give him that luxury. He tried to kick Naruto, but Naruto, knowing how powerful his taijutsu was, didn't even try to block it. He barely managed to dodge it, the zombie's leg only two inches away from his face, and made for the counterattack.

"Wind Style: Gatling Seeds!" he yelled. Suddenly, hundreds of air seeds came out of his mouth, aiming towards the zombie. The seeds were like mini bombs, blowing up air when it impacted something solid.

"Devil Style: Satan Armor!" the zombie yelled in his monotone voice. Flaming red armor suddenly engulfed him, making the air seeds utterly useless. The seeds exploded on impacted, but the armor didn't seem to be scratched in the slightest.

"Damn, this guy…" Naruto said in frustration, charging again.

While the two male teenagers were battling it out, Kakashi faced the third zombie. _'Thank God there are only four.'_

This particular zombie was average looking, body wise. He was fairly muscular, but not to the extent of the other zombie. As Kakashi started to charge him, he heard the woman scream behind him.

"Lawui…is that you?" the woman asked the zombie. Confused, Kakashi looked over at the headless zombie. It didn't respond.

"Who's Lawui?" Kakashi asked the woman.

"Lawui is my husband!" she cried. "He sacrificed his life so we could escape!"

"How can you tell? He doesn't have a head!"

"The ring on his finger," she said, pointing at the ring the zombie wore on his ring finger. "That ring was a one-of-a-kind ring that his father crafted."

"Well, I'm sorry ma'am, but your husband is gone. I don't have a choice. I have to stop him."

"I know…" she miserably replied. Kakashi couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She had suffered so much, even though she didn't do anything wrong. _'When I find this Yajai,' _Kakashi thought, _'he will die painfully.'_

"Behind you!" she said, warning him. He quickly turned around to find…a rhino? A rhino was charging him at full speed. Funny thing was, the rhino looked like it was dead and came back alive. Its skin was all tattered up.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" Kakashi yelled, making a ball of fire charge at the dead-rhino. The blast was about to hit the rhino, but then the rhino strangely turned into an eagle. The eagle soar high up into the sky, making the fire ball miss completely.

"So that's his specialty," Kakashi muttered to himself, thinking of various ways to handle the situation. "Changing into various animals is indeed a strong skill. I have to be cautious."

Seeing as the zombie-bird was still airborne, Kakashi realized that there was only one move at his disposal that can reach that distance instantaneously.

"Mangekyo Sharingan!" he screamed. The bird suddenly noticed itself being sucked up. Kakashi thought it was done for, until the bird yelled: "Devil Style: Impudent Transformation!" changing into an elephant and falling down, landing with a heavy thud. Being a zombie, it didn't look like the zombie received any damage at all from the drop.

"Damn…I got my hands full with this one," Kakashi admitted.

Meanwhile, the fourth and final zombie headed towards Sakura and the family. Seeing as it was headed her direction, she raised her kunai in defense. _'I'm no wall flower. I'll fight this thing with everything I've got.'_

The zombie stopped when they were face to face. The boy, having waked up, cuddled in his mom's arms. She firmly held onto him, not wanting anything to harm her son. 

'_I can't fail. These people don't deserve this pain and misery. I'll protect them with my life.'_

Sakura threw her kunai at the zombie. Even though it was immune to those kinds of attacks, it still dodged it. Sakura was one step ahead of him. Jumping, she charged up a punch, a punch so powerful that it could've met the power of the Oodama Rasengan head on, and aimed her punch towards the zombie.

To her dismay, it screamed. The scream was deafening at first, but then it started to make her vision all blurry. Her vision became so blurry that, in time, she couldn't see anything, only pitch black. After a few seconds of darkness, Sakura found herself in a new world. She found herself in a candy land, kids playing patty cake all around her.

"Where…the hell am I?" she asked herself. The world changed, and now, she was standing in Orochimaru's Hideout. Directly in front of her, she saw the full figure of one of her most hated villains of all time, Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru! Where am I? Did you send these zombies here? Are you in league with Yajai? Answer me!" she screamed at the snake.

Orochimaru laughed, and then licked her lips. "I'm just waiting for Sasuke to come back. I've failed in holding him last time, and I won't make that mistake again."

Sakura grimaced. "You…are still after Sasuke?"

"Why, of course. The power of the Sharingan! I MUST HAVE IT!"

Sakura took a kunai out of her weapon pouch. "NEVER SAY THAT IN FRONT OF ME!" She charged the snake man, head on. Weirdly, Orochimaru didn't seem to move. She didn't put up any kind of defense. Because of that, Sakura had successfully stabbed Orochimaru in the stomach. He didn't flinch, not one bit.

"Why didn't you defend yourself?!" Sakura asked. _'No way would someone like Orochimaru let me win so easily.'_

He didn't reply. Suddenly, everything changed again, but this time, she found herself back in her time. She sighed in relief, but strained herself when she heard Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi call her name.

"Sakura?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Kakashi screamed at her.

"Sakura, why would you do that at this kind of time?!" Sasuke screamed back. He said it as if he didn't care, but his trembling voice told her otherwise.

"SAKURA! ARE YOU OKAY?" Naruto called out to her.

She didn't seem to get what he meant by "okay." She felt fine.

"I'm okay guys!" she said with a smile. "What do you mean when—"

She suddenly felt a burning sensation in her stomach. Looking down, she almost fainted in horror.

She had stabbed herself in the stomach.


	8. Ch5 - Naruto vs Pesko

**Author's Note: I know I'm passed forgivable, but I'm sorry. Here is yet ANOTHER late chapter. To add insult to injury, it's a little shorter than the others. **

**By the way, some of the things I write here are based off the ideas of "The Keeper of Worlds". So thank him if you think the next couple chapters are good. **

Sakura kneeled down as the pain spread through her body. _'So that's why Orochimaru didn't fight back. It was all part of the zombie's genjutsu…and I fell for it...'_

"Sakura!" her squad mates called to her, struggling to get to her. The sight of them made her smile. It was good to know that her teammates cared for her. _'I love you guys so much,'_ Sakura thought, a tear dripping down her cheek as she fell unconscious.

The mother went over to her body, shaking her. In that time of concern, she forgot about the other zombie. "Hey, stay with me! You'll be fine!"

"Sakura!" Naruto screamed. He tried to get to her, but the huge zombie stood in his path. Looking around at his teammates, he saw that they were in the same predicament. Having refocused on the zombie in front of him, he muttered, " . .Way."

The zombie didn't respond.

Fists clenched, Naruto looked up at his opponent. The zombie noticed the blonde's eyes. They were yellow with a black stripe in the middle. Shades of red covered the outside of his eyes.

"I DON'T HAVE TIME TO SCREW AROUND WITH YOU!" he screamed, charging the zombie.

****Naruto vs Pesko (The Big Muscular Zombie)****

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto screamed, putting up his hand seal for Shadow Clones. Three shadow clones appeared beside him, joining the charge against the zombie.

"Scatter!" he yelled to his clones. On cue, the shadow clones moved in different directions, driving the zombie's attention away from the original. One of the shadow clones threw a Windmill Shuriken at the zombie, in which made the zombie dodge.

Above him, another shadow clone tried to fight him head on. Seeing as Sage Mode was on, the shadow clone held his own against the zombie for a good amount of time before finally being defeated.

The final shadow clone tried to use ninjutsu against the zombie. "Wind Style: Canon Impact!" the clone screamed. Opening his mouth wide, a huge burst of air came out of his mouth and flew towards the zombie. The jutsu was moving fast, over 300 MPH. A devastating move if it hit.

The zombie didn't have time to put up his Devil Armor, in which made the jutsu hit him head on. The technique would've slaughtered any normal man, crushing all his bones and tendons. However, the same rules didn't apply to the zombie, as he couldn't feel pain, being dead and all. Parts of his skin blew off, but nothing else seemed to have happened. Loss of skin and organs didn't mean anything to someone who was being kept magically alive.

Getting up, the zombie scanned the area for the blonde shinobi. Seeing as he was nowhere in sight, the zombie decided to tend to his wounds. There was a hole in his stomach from the recent jutsu. Some of his internal organs seemed to have been blown off, along with a couple of bones from his rib cage. The zombie stopped tending his wounds when he heard someone screaming from above. Even without a head, his body looked up. He managed to figure out what was going on at the last second.

"Sage Art: Massive Rasengan Mega Barrage!" Naruto yelled with a bunch of Naruto shadow clones. They started to pour over the zombie. However, the technique was slow; slow enough for the zombie to activate his Devil Armor before any of the Rasengan's impacted.

"Devil Style: Satan Armor!" the zombie yelled. Like before, flaming red armor surrounded the zombie.

"It's useless!" the Naruto's screamed. All the giant Rasengan's collided with the armor, slamming the zombie down onto the ground. A huge blue explosion then took place from the many Rasengan's.

After the technique subsided and the shadow clones were gone, Naruto looked down at his opponent. To his surprise, the armor was still intact, with no visible damage done to it!

"Im…impossible!" Naruto said in horror. "That was…the best move I had! Shit, shit, shit! How do I defeat someone like that?"

He began to let his hopes die down. He couldn't beat someone like that. The zombie couldn't be hurt, no matter how many times he blows away his organs. And not even his best move could pierce his armor. So what more could he do?

He was about to retreat until he saw Sakura's unconscious body. It was odd, but looking at her in that condition gave him new hope. He had something to fight for, even if it was inevitable.

Suddenly, he came up with an idea. He started laughing aloud. "How did I not think of that? It's so obvious!"

The zombie stood still as his armor faded away.

"Yosh! Give my regards to Yajai, will you?" Naruto said to the zombie with a smirk. "I gotta say, you've caused me quite a lot of troub—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the zombie smacked a fist right across his face. His body flew an adequate distance before landing. Blood pouring out of his mouth, Naruto tried to dry it off, but the zombie stomped his foot on Naruto's ribcage, making him yell out in agony.

"Devil Style: Devil Hammer!" the zombie screamed, a huge fire mallet appearing in his right hand. Naruto saw where all of this was going. The zombie was going to end him right there. That mallet would be the last thing he saw. Refusing to die, Naruto struggled with all his might to break free. Thanks to his Sage Mode, he was close to breaking free, but then at the last second, his powers decided to troll him and Sage Mode dispersed, rendering Naruto utterly hopeless.

Naruto, frustrated by his luck, continued to try and break free, but without his Sage Mode, he couldn't seem to even budge the zombie. _'Damn, I really got to work out more.'_

The zombie, wasting no more time, prepared to swing the mallet down. Seeing as his hands were free, Naruto decided to make one last attempt to break free.

"Wind Style: Gatling Seeds!" Naruto yelled out, performing hand seals with his hands. Hundreds of fast air pellets shot out of his mouth, slamming itself on the zombie's chest. The force of the seeds was more than enough to get the zombie's heel off Naruto's chest. It even made some small holes in the zombie's body.

Temporarily dazed, the zombie struggled to maintain its posture, seeing as Naruto was getting back up on his feet. Taking advantage of the zombie's confusion, he decided to spring into his plan.

Naruto's body suddenly glowed orange, and some strange marks appeared on his shirt. He had activated Kyuubi Mode. He didn't attack the zombie or even try to run away. He just stood there, waiting for the zombie to regain its focus. When it did, the zombie wasted no time in pressing the attack.

"Devil Style: Flaming Punch!" the zombie screamed without a mouth, his right hand engulfed in flames. He charged at Naruto, aiming the punch at his chest. Thanks to the Kyuubi Mode's speed, Naruto easily dodged it, landing on top of a tree branch.

The zombie was momentarily confused, noting how his enemy disappeared in a flash. Looking around, he found Naruto sitting atop the tree.

It was Naruto's turn to attack now. Charging up a normal Rasengan on his right hand, he ran towards the zombie at a regular running pace, trying to make a direct hit.

The zombie did what Naruto expected him to do: he used his devil armor again.

"Devil Style: Satan Armor!" the zombie yelled. Once again, his whole body was protected by the flaming armor. This time, however, Naruto expected it. Smiling, he disappeared in a flash, leaving no traces behind.

Surprised, the zombie scanned the area for Naruto. He wasn't in sight. The zombie tried to look for anything that glowed orange, but there wasn't anything that matched that description. Nothing. Seeing as he wasn't in sight, he decided to drop his armor. That was his final horrid mistake.

Just as the armor dropped, Naruto suddenly appeared right next to him, a new Rasengan in his hands. It was a small, condensed purple ball that emitted tons of chakra. The zombie tried to put up the armor again, seeing as the new jutsu would annihilate him, but Naruto was already one step ahead of him.

"Tailed Beast Rasengan!" Naruto screamed, hitting the zombie in the center of his chest. The attack was devastating. The impact alone broke all the bones in the zombie's body, but when the technique exploded, all his cells were deteriorated. Of course the zombie couldn't feel the pain, but even without pain, it was obvious that the zombie was a goner.

When it all ended, Naruto gave a deep sigh, and looked up into the sky, grinning. "Ladies and gentlemen, behold: NARUTO UZUMAKI'S TAILED BEAST BOMB!"


	9. Ch6 - Nostalgia

**Author's Note: None, just enjoy. **

** Guest – "There is no general in ANBU." There's always a leader, like the Hokage, but probably not a general. However, this is my story, so I change a few things. **

Naruto had to choose: Stay to help Sasuke and Kakashi or go to Sakura's aid. Sasuke seemed to notice his struggles and said, "Go, Naruto. We'll be fine."

"I'm probably gonna regret this," Naruto said back.

"No you won't. Kakashi and I are Sharingan wielders, remember? Not to mention I'm part of the esteemed Uchiha clan."

"Tch. This isn't the place to brag, teme."

"Just go!"

Naruto gave it a thought. "I'll help you soon. Just hang in there."

"Oh, I'll do more than 'hang in there'."

Naruto smiled at his rival/friend and ran to Sakura. Upon his arrival, he had noticed how pale she looked, her wound soaking her shirt dark red. The mother held Sakura in her arms, trying to tend to her wounds.

"Ma'am, let me help. I have some bandages in my pack," Naruto told her.

"Please hurry. She is hanging on by a thread," the woman said with sympathy in her voice. Naruto was surprised. The woman barely knew Sakura, yet she acted like she was her mother.

Turning his attention back to Sakura, he frowned. _'She stabbed herself. Why…' _Naruto cupped her cheek. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. You'll be fine."

****Sasuke vs Luuj****

"Alright, you jutsu-eating freak," Sasuke taunted, cracking his knuckles, "time to get serious." With that, his Sharingan activated.

"Fire Style: Fire—" Sasuke said, interrupting himself. The zombie had opened its stomach and spat something fairly large out. Out came another one. They looked like…

"Mom…dad…" Sasuke said, realizing who it was. In front of him were his parents, their skin all torn up. Their eyes were no longer their own. They were pitch black, like the bottom of a deep pit.

Sasuke had a chain of emotions. He was surprised at first, which later turned into sadness. Not long after that, anger filled his body. "So, this is your trick? Let me tell you now, you freak-of-nature: That won't work on me. I know my parents are long gone. This is just their shells."

To Sasuke's utmost dismay, his parent's bodies started to reform. Their torn skin was fixed, their eyes returned to normal. In the end, they looked just like they were before they died.

To further his shock, the body of his mom started speaking. "S—Sasuke? Is that you?"

"I won't play your stupid games, demon," Sasuke firmly said.

"My little baby! That means…Itachi didn't kill you?"

That statement surprised him. How did the corpse know of that? Before he could say anything else, his father's body started laughing. "Look at you, boy! You've grown into a fine young man. And your Sharingan has three tomoe!"

Sasuke was confused to the max. Was this real? Or was it one of the zombie's tricks?

"Let me explain this to you, boy," the zombie said. Apparently he could speak. "These are your parent's dead bodies. However, the forbidden jutsu I used on them gave them back their conscience. Their minds are their own."

Sasuke fell to his knees. _'What did he say? His parent's minds are their own? No. This is probably another trick.'_

"Sasuke," his father cried out. Sasuke looked up at his father's body.

With a smile, his father firmly said: "Kill me."

****Naruto and Sakura*****

It took a while, but eventually Sakura began to regain conscience. The first thing she saw was the face of her best friend. He was gleaming down at her. Besides him, she saw the mother. She too was smiling.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said, "how do you feel?"

There was a silence.

"I feel…" Sakura started, "like kicking that zombie's ass." She tried to get up, but was pushed back down by Naruto.

"Like hell you are. You think I'd let you face that thing again?" Naruto nagged her. "By the way, why'd you stab yourself? If you tend on doing it again, I might have to bind your hands together."

Sakura was tired, but she told him the story anyhow. She told him everything, from the "candy land" to Orochimaru. When she finished, Naruto kept a strong face, even though she could tell that he was trying his best not to cry.

"I'm going to kill that thing," Naruto said, standing up. Sakura's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed his hand, pulling him back down. "Don't Naruto. This is my fight."

"But you can't fight in your condition! You'll die!"

"No, I won't," she reassured. "That zombie in particular is not a physical fighter. He uses genjutsu."

"That…doesn't really make it better," Naruto admitted.

"Actually, it does. I know what to do, Naruto. Can you please trust me?" Sakura looked deeply into the blonde's blue eyes. Naruto didn't want to let her fight, but he could tell there was no stopping her.

"Fine. Just be careful," Naruto said.

"You won't regret it," Sakura said, kissing Naruto slightly on his cheek. Sakura's morale shot up when she saw the priceless blush Naruto showed.

"Take care of her," Sakura said, pointing at the mother.

"You can count on me," Naruto said with a grin.

"No, I really can't. But I guess it'll have to do," Sakura said, sticking her tongue out. And with that, she ran to the zombie.

"Okay, you dead piece of crap, time for round two!"

****Sasuke vs Luuj****

Sasuke was flabbergasted. "Kill…you?"

His father nodded. "You have to—"

"NO!" Sasuke cried out, tears running down his cheek. "It was bad enough to witness you die by Itachi's hand. I won't let you die on mine!"

"Fool! You must! This zombie intends on using my power against you! You must—"

There was a silence. Sasuke saw his father's eyes go black again. That must mean…

"Fire Style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!" Fugaku screamed. Sasuke barely had time to dodge with all the grieving going on in his head. By a mere inch, Sasuke managed to dodge it. He didn't want to, he really didn't. But he had no choice. His parents were gone, and there was no denying that.

"Do it, my Sasuke," his mother cried out to him. "Kill us."

Wiping away his last tear, he obeyed.

"I hope this doesn't hurt you in the afterlife," Sasuke assured them.

"Combined Ninja Art: 1,000 Crying Phoenix!" **(A/N: This jutsu was thought up by my good friend, Keeper of Worlds.)** Sasuke yelled, performing 10 hand seals in under a second. He spat a thousand fire pellets at the group of corpses. As it was airborne, the pellets suddenly covered themselves with lightning. When it impacted, the explosion looked like blue and orange fireworks. He could hear his mom and dad's scream. The sound of it tore his heart into two. His parents were killed by their own flesh and blood; just like during the Uchiha Massacre. He looked at the zombie. Unsurprised, he could see that the zombie had eaten the jutsu.

By this point, Sasuke was on the verge of bursting. He never would've imagined that his parents would **die **by his hands, and to top it all off, it was thanks to the zombie in front of him.

"Susanoo!" Sasuke yelled, activating his Mangekyo Sharingan. Purge of purple surrounded Sasuke, transforming into a skeleton shape. He probably didn't need it, but he needed to make sure that the zombie dies by his hands.

He made his Susanoo change; full sets of armor covering the skeleton. A crossbow appeared in the demon's hands, locked on the zombie.

Sasuke's eyes started to sting, but he had to let it slide. "No matter how much pain this dojutsu gives me, it will never compare to the pain you have just caused me!"

The Uchiha put his hand up into the air only to slam it back down. On command, Susanoo put its hand up into the air and slammed its palm into the zombie. Sasuke smirked. _'There's no way he could've survived that. He couldn't absorb it either, as it was no ninjutsu.'_

He was a fool to think it had ended. His Susanoo started to suck out of him, moving towards the place Susanoo had slammed. He tried to deny it, but he knew what was happening.

The zombie was eating his Susanoo. "He can eat dojutsu too?!"

Out of nowhere, an idea popped up in Sasuke's head. He continued to let the zombie eat Susanoo, observing how fast the zombie was eating it. _'Damn, he has one big stomach.'_

The zombie finished eating the last bit of Susanoo. As its stomach closed, Sasuke immediately sprang into action.

"Amaterasu!"

The incredibly fast black flame dashed towards the zombie's tummy. After it successfully entered, the zombie closed its stomach and smirked.

"Fool!" the monotone voice taunted. "You are too naïve! I am not affected by any jutsu!"

"You are the fool, more than Naruto," Sasuke said with a smirk. "Time to die!"

"Dojutsu: Susanoo Spla—"

Before he could finish his technique, he heard something coming from the distance.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bombs!" a figure yelled. A meteor-like fireball came towards Sasuke.

"Fuck," Sasuke cursed, releasing his jutsu in order to dodge, and dodge he did. The tip of his shirt was burnt in the process. When he regained focus, he fell back in horror.

"You're…that—" Sasuke began.

"Oh, how rude of me! Where are my manners?" the figure said, bowing. "The name's Yajai. A pleasure."

The zombie that was battling Kakashi stopped the fight and looked towards its master. Slowly, the zombie went towards the masked man, completely ignoring Kakashi.

"Oh no you don't," Kakashi said, running up to him.

"Earth Style: Mud Spike Hell!" Yajai screamed. Dozens how spikes made of earth pooped out of the ground near Kakashi's feat, making him retreat.

The genjutsu zombie followed his brethren's steps, completely ignoring Sakura. Unlike Kakashi, Sakura chose not to chase after him. It was futile.

Naruto saw the whole thing and ran up to help. Yajai stared at Naruto, his gaze never leaving.

"Well, it's time for me to go," Yajai said plainly. "I don't need the boy right now, even though I have the power to take him away now." A laugh ensued.

"You won't lay a goddamn finger on him!" Naruto yelled to him. "If you so much as touch a strand of his hair, I'll break that mask off so hard—"

"Calm down, Naruto!" Sasuke told his friend. "Don't get so angry. That's exactly the reaction he is looking for."

It was hard, but Naruto managed to suppress his anger.

"Ah, as upbeat as ever," Yajai said to Naruto. Naruto was confused. What could he have meant? How did he know he was "upbeat"? Yajai's "minions" sank underground, leaving Yajai there by himself. Yajai himself then proceeded to flash himself away, a mist of lightning appearing where he was. But before getting away completely, he merely said:

"Another time…Naruto."


	10. Ch8 - Failure

**Author's Note: kidloco: Yajai was mentioned in Chapter 3. He is the antagonist of this story.**

Everybody was lost in their own thoughts. Naruto was angry because he had let the masked man get away. Sasuke had mixed emotions from his confrontation with his parents. Sakura was mad because she didn't get to pummel the genjutsu zombie. Kakashi was the only calm one. He analyzed the situation and was the first one to break the chain of thoughts from his team.

"Guys," Kakashi said, snapping his fingers in order to get their attention. It worked. "We'll worry about Yajai later. Right now, the boy is our main priority."

"And his mom," Sakura added. Kakashi nodded. He beckoned the team to follow him, and they did as he ordered. When they reached the mother-and-son, Kakashi bent down to check on their condition.

"Are you two alright?" Kakashi asked the two. Weakly, the boy nodded. However, the mother looked like she was deep in thought. Kakashi gently shook her shoulder to get her attention. She screamed when she felt him touch her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Kakashi said, bowing his head low, "I wasn't trying to be perverted, I swear!"

At first in shock, the mother slowly turned to face Kakashi. As their eyes met, she started crying. Sakura was the first one to speak up, kneeing next to the weeping mother.

"Are you alright? Why are you crying?" Sakura asked with sympathy.

"That…man…" the mother said in between sniffles, "he…he was the one who killed my husband!"

The team was shocked to hear it, but they expected as much. Why would a man send his demon minions just to capture a random mother and son? Naruto was deathly silent when he heard it. The sound of the woman crying started something in him. Without a word, he turned around and started walking towards the opposite direction; into the trees.

"Naruto! Where are you going?" Sasuke asked him.

Naruto turned into his Bijuu form, and without a single word, he disappeared. Everybody was surprised at Naruto's sudden move. It was enough to stop the mother's crying.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled out. She started to run towards the forest but was held back by Kakashi.

"Stop it, Sakura!" he told her. "Let him be."

"But what if he—"

Kakashi placed both his hands on her shoulder and said, "Sakura."

Sakura looked up to her masked sensei, her tears starting to come out.

"He's a Sage, remember?"

****Naruto****

"YAJAI!" Naruto yelled. He was back in his normal form, leaping from tree to tree. "You wait right where you are! I'm coming to kick your sorry ass!"

****Team 7****

"For now," Kakashi said, "let's take these two and get out of here."

It was Sasuke's turn to worry. "But what will Naruto do when he gets back? We can't trust that baka to find his way to us, can we?"

Kakashi took his hands off of Sakura and raised an eyebrow at him. "Worried about him, are we now?"

Sasuke reddened by the sudden answer. "Not in a million years. I could care less if he came back or not."

Sakura played along, temporarily giving up her depression. She gave Sasuke a devilish smile. "Admit it. He's like a brother to you."

"I'm going." Sasuke stated, completely ignoring her.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Kakashi asked him.

"Do you?" came the reply. Kakashi's mask hid his expression, but Sasuke could tell that he was blushing.

"Er, I was going to just walk forward and…you know…go from there."

"Uh-huh. All hail our sensei." With that, Sasuke started moving towards the trees. To the whole team's horror, there was a call for help from the distance. A call from Naruto!

"AHHHHH! KAKASHI-SENSEI! HELP ME! YAJAI—"

Then there was silence. Sakura was the first to react. "Naruto!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She started to sprint towards the call, with Kakashi and Sasuke right behind her. Kakashi looked back at the mother and son and gave them a grim smile.

"Stay right there! We'll be back!" he told them. The mother wasn't thrilled by the idea, but nodded in agreement.

'_Naruto,' _Sakura thought to herself, her eyes swelling with tears at the thought of her friend dying, _'you better be in one peace when we find you."_

"That fool! He HAD to chase Yajai down by himself, didn't he?" Sasuke said angrily. He sounded angry, but he was torn in the inside. There was a chance he'd lose his closest friend, his brother…

"Have faith in Naruto, guys," Kakashi reassured them, a grin forming on his face. "He's Jiraiya's prodigy, remember?" He spoke brave words, but he too was caring for his student. The thought of Naruto's outgoing personality gone forever hurt him.

They were all hurt, but none of them were as hurt as Sakura. _'Naruto, you have to be alive. I...I haven't told you how I feel yet…' _

They ran so fast that dirt was pumped into the air by their footsteps. They ran for a decent amount of time, but they didn't slow down in the least. Their worries for Naruto were the only thing in their minds right now.

Just then, a voice called out from beside them. "Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei?"

That voice belonged to Naruto. They spun around to see their blonde friend giving them a confused face.

"What are you guys doing here? Aren't you guys supposed to be taking care of the mother and her son?"

The team seemed to have ignored the question completely. Sakura ran up to him and hugged him so tight he could've sworn he saw death's white light.

"Naruto!" she cried as her hug became tighter. "I'm so glad you're okay! We heard a scream that sounded like you and thought something terrible had happened!"

Naruto was sure he was on the verge of death, but he let her continue. Her embrace might have been tight, but her warm body gave him so much comfort. He hugged her back, taking his time to breath in the smell of her hair.

But when they saw the rest of the group stare at them, they released each other and looked down at the ground, a slight blush appearing on both their faces.

Sasuke came up to the blonde and smacked him on the back of the head. "Baka! You look fine to me! What's with the unnecessary call for help?"

A mischievous smile grew on the blonde's face. "You were worried about me, weren't you?"

"Sock it, and stop denying the frickin' question."

"The question?" Naruto pondered. "Wait, you guys heard me cry for help?"

Kakashi went up to him and stared at him. "You look fine to me."

"Maybe that's because nothing happened to me."

There was a silence.

"Wait, what do you mean 'nothing happened to me'?" Sasuke asked him. "You screamed 'KAKASHI-SENSEI! HELP ME! YAJAI!'"

"No, I didn't," Naruto answered. "I was running nonstop since I left."

"Than…who called us?" Kakashi asked him.

"And more importantly, how did that person imitate your voice so well?" Sasuke added.

Sakura's eyes bulged out as a possibility popped into her head. "You…don't…think…"

"…that…this is…" Sasuke continued.

"Part of Yajai's plan to get to the kid?!" Kakashi finished. The team was too shocked to move.

"We don't have time to waste here," Naruto yelled. "Let's go!"

"You don't have to say that twice," Sasuke agreed. "Lead on!"

The gang started to run back to the mother and son but got lost halfway there.

"Fuck! We don't have time for this! There are too many goddamn trees here!" Naruto cursed.

"No worries," Kakashi told him. "Summoning Technique: Ninken!"

In front of Kakashi, eight dogs appeared in a cloud of smoke. As usual, Pakkun was the first to speak.

"Oh, hey boss," Pakkun plainly said. "It's been a while since you summoned me. Whatcha need?"

"It's good to see you too, Pakkun," Kakashi replied. "Listen, is it possible for you to find and follow our footsteps? We're trying to backtrack our way to somebody."

"No problem," the pup replied. "Where's the track?"

"Right here," Kakashi said, pointing to the left. There were a few visible footprints, but most of them were lost.

"What would you do without me, eh boss?" Pakkun bragged.

"You mean without _us_?" Shiba, another dog, said.

"Well, yeah, but mostly me."

Naruto didn't have the patience for this. "Look, Pakkun. It's good to see you and all, but we are in a critical emergency!"

Kakashi nodded. "The boy is right, Pakkun. I'm afraid we don't have time for pleasantries."

"Understood. Follow us." All eight dogs started to walk with Team 7 following them from behind. They walked for a considerable distance, in which the group came to the conclusion they were lucky that Kakashi summoned Pakkun and his pals. Otherwise, they'd be long lost.

"Up there," Pakkun said, pointing ahead. "I'm guessing you don't need us anymore?"

Kakashi grinned at his dogs. "You guys have been a big help."

The dog scoffed. "More than a 'big' help. See ya around, boss." And with that, they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Come on fellas!" Naruto shouted. "They're up ahead!"

When they exited the forest, they saw something that was expected but yet shocking all the same. The mother was stabbed, blood still dripping from her stomach. The blade reached through her back, which showed how painful it must've been for her.

The boy too looked dead. He wasn't stabbed. It looked like he was beaten to death, beaten by a strong man…or thing.

Kakashi fell to his knees. He was shaking and tearing up at the same time. "We failed…"

Sakura tried her best to hold in her tears and went over to the bodies. She tried to tend to the mother to no avail. The woman was dead.

Sasuke also seemed depressed. "We don't deserve to call ourselves shinobi…I don't have any right to call myself General of the ANBU…"

"Do you think it's any better for me?" Naruto asked him softly. The shock buried his anger. "I'm…a Sage…one of the Legendary Sannin's apprentice! And I failed a mission of this caliber."

They were all grieving with themselves until they heard Sakura scream.

"Sakura! What's wrong?" Naruto asked her worriedly.

"Guys…the boy…" she said, stuttering in between each word. She was shivering really badly, her eyes were bulging out. The team went over to her and tried to see what shocked her so badly. What they saw was the pinnacle of their failure. This mission was S-rank, but it was more important than that. This is why the Hokage entrusted the mission to them.

The boy's left eye had been cut out, blood oozing from his eye socket. Looking at his right eye, they summed up the importance of the mission.

The boy they were supposed to protect wielded the Rinnegan.


	11. Ch9 - The Prophet

**Author's Note: ims: I'm not angry or anything, I love constructive criticism, but I'm going to try to answer all of your complaints. Hopefully it'll open up a new perspective. First, the trap was not obvious, at least not for Team 7. To us, as readers, it might've been obvious, but when you hear a friend call out for dire help, you do not have a second thought. You just act. And they were not feeling "sorry" for themselves. I'm sorry if it looked that way, but when they say those things, for example, "I'm…a Sage…one of the legendary Sannin's apprentice! And I failed a mission of this caliber." What Naruto's basically saying is that he doesn't deserve to be a Sage if he let the boy die due to his own stupidity. **

**Hope that cleared up some confusion **

"This eye!" Yajai said in triumph. "Oh…this magnificent eye…"

Yajai was holding an eyeball in his hand. The blood had been cleaned off which in turn made the eye sparkle in all its glory, despite being purple.

A shadowy figure entered the room. She was a female, probably around the same height as Naruto. "Yajai-san?" she softly called to him. Yajai turned around.

"Ah Mitzuei, do you have anything to report?" Yajai said with a rather gleeful tone.

"Yes, sir. Everybody is in place. We're just missing one crucial thing."

"You mean…'him?'" Yajai muttered under his breath, putting a heavy emphasis on the word "him."

"I'm sorry sir," the woman said, bowing her head down low. "But you know how he is. He's a stubborn weirdo who acts like Naruto-kun."

Unexpectedly, Yajai walked up to her and slapped her across the face. The force of the impact knocked the woman straight off her feet. She fell on a table which made the table collapse. "So…WHAT is wrong with acting like Naruto?" Yajai shouted.

The woman didn't seem angry. She just stood up and wiped her skirt. She then glared Yajai through his mask into his dark black eyes. "Yajai-san, I did not mean offense. But you know how Naruto is: once he sets his mind on something, he never gives it up."

Yajai tamed his temper and sighed. "You're right, Mitzuei. Sorry."

She nodded.

"Let me deal with it," Yajai added. "In the end, he'll have to help us. It's his destiny. In the meantime, let us see what they will do with the Rinnegan…"

****At Team 7****

"So this is the legendary Rinnegan." Sakura said amazed. She examined the eye closer, and noticed that out of every single eye out there, the Rinnegan was the most amusing eye.

"Didn't that old Sannin wield that eye?" Sasuke asked.

"By 'old Sannin,' you're probably referring to Rikudou Sennin, right?" Kakashi corrected him.

"Isn't he supposed to be the granddaddy of all shinobi?" Naruto's asked like the wit he is.

"Pshh. Naruto logic." Sasuke teased with a smile. Naruto started to form a Rasengan.

"Enough, enough," Kakashi said as he tried to hold in a chuckle. Sakura couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Not you too, Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined.

"Sorry, it's just that sometimes you're just so…Naruto," Sakura answered awkwardly.

"So because of that you fell in love with him?" Sasuke publically asked. Naruto blushed, but the color of his blush paled in comparison to Sakura's.

"W-where did you get THAT idea from?" Sakura asked, trying to avoid Naruto's gaze.

Sasuke merely shrugged. "Rumors."

"That's enough," Kakashi said to Sakura's relief. "We have more pressing matters at the moment. The Rinnegan."

"Do you think I can have it?" Naruto asked.

"Do you even need it?" Sasuke asked him. "You already have Sage Mode and Bijuu Mode. There's really no reason why you should have it."

"I can say the same to you, Mr. Susanoo," Naruto replied teasingly. "What about Kakashi sensei? One Sharingan and one Rinnegan sounds like a good deal."

"Tempting. However, I think there's one person here who needs it more than me," Kakashi stated as his gaze turned to Sakura. Sakura blinked.

"Wait, me?" Sakura asked with a surprised expression on her face. "Why?"

"Let's admit it, Sakura: You're the weakest one here," Kakashi admitted. She punched him on the head.

"I'm just saying, the odds of us surviving in a tough battle are higher than yours! You can't deny that, can you?" Kakashi said as he guarded himself in case she decided to get violent. She didn't.

"I don't want it."

They all stared at her.

"What do you mean 'you don't want it?'" Naruto asked her. "The Rinnegan would boost your strength a great deal!"

"I've made up my mind. I don't want to."

Kakashi sighed. "Well, we can't force you to have it. Anybody else want it?"

Everybody shook their heads.

"Come on guys, we can't just destroy it."

There was a pause.

"Fine." Naruto spoke. They all turned to him.

"What do you mean 'fine?'" Sasuke asked.

"I'll take it. I feel responsible for all this. The boy's death, the mother's death. Giving Yajai the opportunity to get the Rinnegan. If I didn't chase after him, none of this would've happened."

"So, as punishment, you want to get the Rinnegan?" Sasuke asked. "Sounds more like a luxury to me. I mean, I hear whoever wields the Rinnegan gets the ability to use the Six Paths of Pain."

Naruto pondered the thought. "You're right. I'm already strong as I am. Why do I even need the Rinnegan?"

"All this is just pointing back at Sakura again," Kakashi stated. Like before, all the attention went to Sakura.

"I already said—"

"Come on, Sakura," Sasuke said with a small smirk. "If you do, Naruto will give you a kiss."

"Wait, I'll do what now?" Naruto asked the Uchiha, blushing. Sakura too was blushing.

"Oh, hell no, we're not starting this topic again," Kakashi said with a straight face. "Sakura, please, take the Rinnegan."

"But—"

"The kiiiisssss," Sasuke sang.

Sakura sighed. "Well if I have to, then I guess I have no other choice. But I'm not doing it for the kiss, though!"

'_Dang it,' _Naruto thought.

"It's settled then: Sakura gets the Rinnegan," Kakashi said.

There was an unusually long silence between the group. The stench of awkwardness swarmed the area. They seemed unable to say much to each other.

"Well, uh, I guess we should head back to the village," Naruto suggested, breaking the long silence.

"I agree, let's get this over with," Sasuke agreed.

"I'd rather not suffer the Hokage's full wrath," Kakashi said, shivering. "I am the Hokage's advisor, after all."

"It's not any better for me!" Sakura added. "I'm her pupil!"

"Let's just head back and take baa-chan's crap together," Naruto suggested. The others nodded, and with that, they headed back to the village.

It took days to get back, but eventually they made it. But to their confusion, Konoha looked…darker. It wasn't damaged or anything, the atmosphere just felt…dark.

"Guys…" Naruto began. The others had the same confused look on their faces.

"We…better hurry," Sakura requested. They nodded and went to the village's front gates. When they arrived, they were left with even more questions. Everybody had bland expressions on their faces. Nobody seemed to even acknowledge Team 7's return.

Kakashi went up to a man he found walking down the street. "Oi, what happened here? Are you okay?"

The man was still. After a few seconds, the man turned around ever so slowly and faced Kakashi. His face was still bland. "The Fire Country will be reincarnated soon. Be patient," he merely said. He started walking down the street again, completely ignoring the rest of the group.

"What the hell happened here?!" Naruto said furiously. He started running through the village in attempt to find somebody he knew. After a few minutes of running, he found Ten-Ten leaning on a store wall. He went up to her and asked her the same thing Kakashi did.

"Reincarnation. Our savior will rescue us from the grasp of chaos and bring us into the light."

"When did you start speaking this wisdom-crap?" Naruto questioned her. "More importantly, who's this savior you speak of?"

"The Prophet, Yajai."


	12. Ch10 - Old Friends

**Author's Note: I'm guessing you guys expect an apology or something for posting such a late chapter, am I right? Well, you ain't getting any :D The past month was gaming month :D Assassins Creed 3, Far Cry 3, Hitman Absolution, Black Ops 2, Halo 4, etc. So for those who aren't mad at me and want to keep reading, thank you for waiting. I really appreciate your patience. For those of you who have moved on, go to hell :P No, I'm kidding. I hope all of you get a good Christmas! :D **

**Either you guys hate Sakura or have no trust in my writing abilities. Just because I hint something is going to happen doesn't mean it'll come into fruition later. Just keep your calm and trust in my writing, okay? **

**Reminder, I plan to have a yuri chapter somewhere in this story, but here's the thing: I don't like to write them. I don't know, I just don't feel comfortable writing stuff like that. So if any of you want to write one FOR me, feel free to do so and submit it. I'll give full credit to whoever wrote it. I know this is a rated T fic, but the yuri IS optional and I'll give full warning to you guys whenever it's near. Honestly, besides that yuri scene, this story really isn't much of a rated M story. **

**Oh, and one more thing. Yajai, for the FINAL time, is the antagonist of this story. I don't know how some of you missed this, as I clearly stated it during another chapter of mine -.- Last time I'm saying this.**

"What's taking Naruto so long?" Sakura asked her remaining group with concern. "Do you think he's okay?"

"Have more faith in him, Sakura," Kakashi assured her. "This is Naruto we're talking about, right? He'll handle himself."

"Maybe he's better off dead," Sasuke said with a smirk. Sakura smiled at him mischievously.

"You act like you don't, but if Naruto dies, you'll be the first one to pour down tears," she said to him. He scoffed.

"Please, you'd cry up an ocean before I even shed a single tear," Sasuke rebutted.

Kakashi smiled at the two. They needed more time like this. Things have been too quiet these last few days, and it's always good to have some "Team 7" bonding moments.

"Dynamic Entry!" someone said from the distance. Kakashi recognized it immediately, and turned to give his friend a proper greeting.

"Yo, Gai—"

Unbeknownst to him, Gai kicked Kakashi square in the chest, sending him flying into an apartment complex. Sasuke and Sakura were angered, yet shocked, by Gai's sudden hostility and tried to fight him, but Kakashi held them back.

"Sasuke! Sakura! Stop!" he yelled trying to stand up. His mask was darkened, which probably meant he was bleeding. "This is my fight. Go and find Naruto."

They were hesitant, but obeyed his order. When they left, Kakashi turned to his old pal and grinned. "So Gai, I'm guessing you're just like everybody else in the village, right?"

Gai stood there silently.

"It's a shame, really," Kakashi said slowly as he lifted his forehead protector from his right eye. "You won't be able to remember this when you wake up."

Gai tried to blitz Kakashi, and would've probably succeeded if it were not for Kakashi's Sharingan. Seeing everything at hand, Kakashi ducked his kick and started to form Raikiri.

"Raikiri!" Kakashi yelled, charging at Gai. He thought Gai would've dodged it or something, but in reality he didn't move a muscle.

A direct hit.

****Naruto and TenTen****

"So what is Yajai doing to this village?!" Naruto asked her with a rather fierce tone.

"He's giving us hope," Ten Ten calmly replied.

"What hope? He's enslaved all your minds! Here, touch my hand. After befriending the Kyuubi, I have the ability to break genjutsu on touch. Try it," he said as he gave her his hand. Ten Ten seemed reluctant, but obeyed. As she was moving her hand towards his, he heard something cry out in the distance.

"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!" a man screamed from the distance. Naruto barely had time to dodge it as an air force broke the ground beneath him. Turning to see his adversary, he was face to face with the Master Byakyugan user, Neji Hyuga.

"The crap, dude?! I wasn't trying to flirt with her, you know!" Naruto screamed at him. He expected a blush from the white-eyed shinobi but figured he was probably mind controlled too.

Neji looked Ten Ten in the eye and merely said: "Yajai wants him alive."

She nodded in agreement and took out her Bo Staff. Neji got into his pose. Naruto facepalmed himself.

"Do you guys actually believe you can beat me?" Naruto bragged with a grin. "You guys are my friend, that's true, but I refuse to be captured."

With that sentence, the two charged at Naruto.

****Sasuke and Sakura****

Sasuke and Sakura ran through the bland city, looking for their blonde companion. Everybody the two ran past had a blank expression on their faces. It angered the two, as they couldn't do anything else but run.

Sakura suddenly stopped Sasuke in the midst of his sprinting and turned him around to face her. She stared at him with a serious look, which gave Sasuke an uneasy feeling.

"Sasuke, I need…help," Sakura whispered softly.

"What kind of help?" he said slyly as he backed away from the pink-haired kunoichi.

"I need help expressing my feelings to someone," Sakura admitted.

"Oh, dear God, please don't start this again. Sakura, I told you I have no feelings for you whatsoev—"

Sakura bashed him on the head.

"Ow!" Sasuke yelped, grabbing his head. "What the fuck? How is that anyway to admit your feelings to somebody?!"

"Baka! I wasn't talking about you!" she said fiercely.

Sasuke loosened up a bit, glad that he didn't have to put up with any "girl" drama. "So, if it's not me, then it must be…" Sasuke gave her a devilish grin.

Sakura blushed. "Can you give me any good advice or do you want to just move on?"

Sasuke, still amused, frowned. "Your guess is as good as mine. You know I don't know mushy things like this."

"I should've expected it. Sorry I brought up the topic. Let's just go resume our search for Naruto," Sakura said with a sigh. She had been feeling extremely uncomfortable around Naruto lately. Her heart just wouldn't stop jumping. When Naruto left the village to fully become a Sage, everything became a pain. She had missed Naruto's bright grin, greeting her every morning as she went to the hospital. She didn't want to admit it at the time, but she knew one day that she had fallen in love with the blonde Sage. Now was the problem of admitting her feelings.

Before she could daydream anymore, she heard a scream. Two, in fact. One was from Kakashi's direction. The other one was from Naruto's.

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke and he nodded in acknowledgment. Sasuke ran off towards Kakashi's direction while Sakura ran towards Naruto's. They ran faster and faster when the screaming stopped. They eventually ran as fast a built cheetah.

Sakura started crying. Sasuke had wide, shaking eyes.

Naruto and Kakashi lay on the ground with a huge gaping hole in their chests.


	13. Ch11 - A new minion?

** kidloco: Lol no, they're not dead. Man, I love reading your reviews ^_^**

****Sakura and Naruto****

"Naruto!" Sakura cried out. She ran over to his side and placed him on her thigh. He had a small hole in his chest. The scariest thing was that the whole went straight through his chest and right through his back.

Sakura placed her hands on the wound, trying to heal him. Everything seemed fine at first, but then she started to get a slight headache. The slight headache eventually grew into a massive headache. The force of the pain in her head was too much for her to bare. Her vision started to become blurry.

All of the sudden, as if popping out of nowhere, a figure appeared next to her. She thought it was a human at first, one of the villagers. After much concentrating, she realized that the figure was not human. It was a demon. A very disfigured demon.

"Who—" Sakura began.

"Shh, dear," the demon assured her. The demon had a female voice behind it. "There's no use fighting it. Just take it easy, and rest…"

The demon's words were so charming that Sakura couldn't help but feel extremely tired and relaxed. "I guess…I could use a break," Sakura said. It was weird. She didn't mean to say that at all.

"Good. Very good," the female voice said ever so slowly. Sakura laid Naruto down gently before collapsing on Naruto's stomach.

****Sasuke and Kakashi****

"Oi, Kakashi," Sasuke began, shaking his sensei. "Oi!"

No response.

'_Is he dead?!' _Sasuke thought.

"Wait here, sensei. I need to get Sak—"

He suddenly got a headache. Like Sakura's, it was a very minor headache. Eventually, it grew into a bigger one. He grabbed his own head.

"Damn…what the hell is going on?" Sasuke muttered. A figure suddenly appeared at his side.

"Calm yourself, my sweet," the figure started talking.

"The fuck are you, bitch? Don't frickin' call me 'your sweet,'" Sasuke yelled. The headache worsened.

"Tch, tch, such a bad tone! But it's all right. I forgive you," the demon said.

He tried to glance at the figure. He couldn't see very well. He scoffed. "Like I need your forgiving. What are you doing to me? Are you part of Yajai's minions?" The pain was killer now.

"Don't worry about who I am…just take a break. You've been through a lot, haven't you? You deserve a nap. Come…take a break," the demon reassured.

Sasuke's vision began to blur, and his yearning for sleep increased. "What kind of genjutsu is this?!" he exclaimed.

"Now, just—"

"FUCK YOU!" he screamed. He started to summon lightning in his palm. He placed his hand on his own chest. By God, it hurt a lot. But it also shocked him out of whatever trick the demon was up to.

His vision started to clear. In front of him was the ugliest woman he had ever seen before. She had disfigured eyes, one tiny and one huge. She had no hair on the top of her head, her teeth were all yellow and out of place, drool was slipping down her mouth, and her whole body was purple. The ugliness was too much to bear, he had to look away.

"For God's sake, how ugly can a woman get?!" he screamed in horror as he got up.

"Ugly? What's ugly?" the demon replied. "I just want to nurse you back to health." She started walking towards him.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan. "Get away from me! Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"

A fireball the size of a mansion spewed out of his mouth and went straight towards the demon. For its size, the fireball was moving at a decent pace. Sasuke smirked.

"Try to dodge that now, bitch!"

The demon didn't move. Not a single step. Her expression was the same, a small smile. The fireball pressed against her and blew up, making a huge crater where she was standing.

When the smoke cleared, Sasuke stood in horror. She was perfectly fine. Not a single burnt mark on her ugly purple skin. But how was that possible?

The demon pointed to Sasuke's far left. He turned around to see a man burnt to a crisp. The now dead man fell to the ground, black smoke erupting from his body.

"What…the hell? The fireball was nowhere near that man…" Sasuke stood in complete disarray. Was it some sort of transportation jutsu?

"I have a Kekkei Genkai," the demon said as if reading his mind. "My specialty is being a voodoo doll. Whoever I tag with my hands receives all the damage I receive. Basically, that man took the effects of your fireball instead of me."

Sasuke stared at the demon with an open jaw. How can he beat her, then? "Exactly how many people have you tagged?"

"Why don't you find out?" the demon said with an ugly smirk.

Sasuke was out of options. If he hurts the demon, who knows who the victim would be? His only choice was to run, but what of his sensei? He can't just leave him there, no matter how perverted he was. And the demon wasn't just going to let him run away.

He closed one of his eyes. When he opened it, he said: "Tsukyomi."

The demon's mind and soul was sent to a 42 hour hell. But in reality, it was a couple seconds to buy time for Sasuke to carry his sensei out of the area.

The demon regained consciousness, but the raven haired boy was long gone.

"What happened here?!" Sasuke exclaimed when he saw the rest of his team. Naruto laid on the ground with a gaping hole in his chest, just like his sensei, while Sakura lay unconscious on Naruto's stomach.

The pissed off raven-haired boy started to kick her. "Why the hell are you sleeping, you stupid star-crossed lover? If this is your way of getting closer to Naruto, then you are piss desperate."

She didn't respond.

Sasuke stopped kicking her and remained silent for a minute. "Did I kick her too hard?"

"Where am I?" Sakura said aloud. She was in some sort of unknown universe. The background was bleak yellow. Everything seemed so…empty.

That is until she saw an envious sight. A beautiful woman was chasing Naruto around. They were both laughing and seemed to have an amazing time.

Sakura's heart started to fuel. Who was that woman?

"Oi, Naruto!" Sakura called out to him.

Naruto surprisingly turned around and grinned when he saw her. "Sakura-chan! It's good to see you, but…why are you in my conscious?"

"Your conscious? Why am I in your conscious?"

"That's what I was asking you."

"Ne, Naruto, let's keep playing," the woman said to him, smiling a bright smile.

'_What a kiss up,' _Sakura thought.

"Not right now. We have a guess to tend to," Naruto told the woman.

"I'd make tea for her right now, but there's no equipment here…or tea," the woman giggling a bit.

"I'm pretty sure she doesn't mind. Right, Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah, I don't mind," she replied, fist clenched.

"Then I'll leave you two to talk," the woman said smiling. She gave Naruto a kiss on his forehead and left.

Naruto started to walk up to Sakura but noticed that she was heavily twitching. "Um, Sakura-chan? Are you okay?"

She didn't reply. Instead, she went up to the leaving lady and turned her around. "Who do you think you are, talking and kissing Naruto like that?!" Sakura screamed. She knew Naruto was right behind her, but she didn't care.

The woman glanced at Naruto and back towards the pink-haired girl.

"Is there something wrong with kissing my own son?"


	14. Ch12 - The Next Step

**A/N: To be honest, I really didn't want to upload this today, but so many reviews are coming in that I feel indebted to you. This just goes to show how much I care for your reviews. **

Embarrassed would be putting it lightly. Sakura was flabbergasted at the identity of the woman. Then again, who would blame her for being jealous?

Naruto's mom was beautiful. She had gracious long, red hair that flowed all the way down to her legs and beyond. Her blue eyes reminded her of the sparkle she saw in Naruto's eyes. Like mother, like son.

The woman smiled at Sakura while Naruto chuckled loudly in the background.

"Don't tell me you were jealous, Sakura-chan!" Naruto teased her. She didn't know how to reply. How do you say anything after such an embarrassing act?

"I'm…sorry," Sakura said very softly.

The woman laughed. "Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure it did look inappropriate for a mother to run around, chasing her son. Then again, I haven't played with my son since…well, since he was born."

What the woman said made Sakura feel even worse. There was nothing wrong with spending time with the child you never met in reality before. Before she could tear up, the woman placed out her hand.

"Hi. I'm Kushina Uzumaki, mother of Naruto Uzumaki. I assume you're his girlfriend?" Kushina guessed.

Sakura looked over at Naruto and back to the woman. "No, I'm not."

"Really? Then why were you so upset when—"

"O-kay mom, let's not get too touchy on the subject," Naruto intervened before it could get anymore awkward. He turned back to Sakura. "Is there a reason why you're here…in my thoughts?"

Sakura suddenly jumped.

"What's wrong?!" Naruto asked.

"Wait! Why did you have a gaping hole in your chest when I saw you in our world?" Sakura asked him.

"A hole?" Naruto replied. He had to think for a moment.

"Tell me exactly what happened when you left us," Sakura demanded. Naruto nodded.

"After running a couple blocks, I ran into Ten Ten," Naruto started.

Sakura nodded to show she was listening.

"Unfortunately, she was in a trance like everybody else in the village. She started mumbling all these prophecy crap, so I tried to free her from the genjutsu." Naruto started laughing.

"Then Ten Ten's future husband came out of the blue and started attacking me. He told Ten Ten that Yajai wanted me alive."

"And?" Sakura asked impatiently.

"I hit both of them square in the chest with two kunai."

"Then how did you end up with a hole in your chest?"

"I'm not sure. Some ugly purple woman popped out of the ground and took the hit for them. For some reason, I felt immense pain in my chest after I stabbed her." Naruto shrugged. "Then I just passed out."

Sakura was trying to piece it all together. "Was it some sort of genjutsu?"

"Despair Sloth," Kushina said aloud.

"Despair Sloth?" Sakura asked. "What does that mean?"

"That's the demon's name," Kushina answered nervously. She started shaking and her eyes darted towards the ground. Naruto noticed and went to his mother's side, putting his right hand on her shoulder.

"Mom! Are you alright?" Naruto asked in concern. Kushina gave him a weak smile.

"I'm fine, son. It's just that…" She pursed her bottom lip. "The only man capable of creating that voodoo demon is…" She paused.

Naruto waited for an answer but none came. "Who?"

She did not answer. Instead, she turned around and placed both her hands on his shoulders. "Listen to me well, Naruto. You need to get out of here."

"How do I get out of my own—"

"I'm not done talking! You need to get out of here and go to Shirayosha Village, near the southeast border of the Fire Country."

"What are you talking—"

"STOP INTERUPPTING ME!" Kushina yelled. Naruto knew better to anger his mom, so he kept quiet. "Go to Shirayosha Village and find a girl named Kuna Ruki. Find her and tell her 'The prophet has returned.'"

Naruto didn't understand. Sakura fared no better. But both of them nodded.

Kushina smiled at her son and kissed him once again on the forehead. "Now, hold Sakura."

There was a silence.

"Hold Sakura?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, hold her. I'm going to use a forbidden jutsu to get you out of your conscious. She can't leave unless you guys are in direct contact with each other."

Naruto gulped. Sakura looked like she was about to cry.

"Oh, what's wrong?" Kushina asked her son with a devious smile. "I thought your dream was to touch her and more?"

Naruto blushed. "Mom! You make it sound so pervy!"

"Don't lie to me. I know you have had thoughts about it." Naruto blushed as hot as the sun. "Now hold her."

Naruto wasn't sure what to do. He looked over at Sakura and saw that she was blushing as well. Seeing no other option, he went up to her and wrapped his arms around her. . .

Kushina started to form a few hands seals and placed her palm on Naruto's chest. The two started to glow, and they started to see Kushina disappear.

Naruto was nowhere near happy to leave. He just met his mom for the first time since his battle with Pain. Who knows when he'll get to see her again? He wanted to see his father as well. He wanted to spend time with his parents again.

Before they disappeared, Kushina smiled at Sakura. "You'll have your hands full with him as a husband." And with that, they blacked out.

They awoke to the sight of a blazing fire. Their first thoughts were that Konoha was burning. After closer examination and concentration, they noticed that it was a camping fire.

Naruto slowly stood up and tried to get a bearing of his surroundings. He was in a forest. The sun had descended, so the fire made sense. He looked to his sides to see Sasuke and Kakashi sleeping in their separate sleeping bags. He looked down at his chest to see his "gaping hole" all bandaged up.

Sakura noticed the same thing and smiled at him. "Looks like one of them healed you right up."

"Must've been Kakashi-sensei," Naruto merely replied.

Sakura chuckled. "You really need to open up to Sasuke. You guys are practically brothers."

"Are you calling me emo?" Naruto teased with a smile. Sakura gave him a small punch on his arm.

"Awake now, are we?" a voice called beside them. To their shock, they saw their sensei's eye them from his sleeping bag.

Looking beside him, Naruto saw that Sasuke was also awake. He didn't say anything though.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed. "You're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm lucky," he replied with a grin.

Sakura looked over at Sasuke, who was still lying on his sleeping bag.

"How did you wake him? Did you enter his conscious as well?" Sakura asked the raven haired boy.

Kakashi answered for him. "Enter my conscious? No, he didn't. I did somehow talk with my dad, though…and Rin…"

"Then how are you up?" Naruto asked him.

"Because my oh-so-caring-student literally shocked me half to death using his lightning affinity. I'll tell you right now, it hurt like hell."

"Sounds just like him," Naruto teased. Sasuke still said nothing.

Sakura was confused. "Sasuke, why didn't you use it on Naruto as well?"

For the first time, he answered. "I did. But the Kyuubi's healing abilities probably prevented it from doing much."

"Ah, good ol' Kyu." Naruto said, patting his belly.

"So, how did you two come out of unconsciousness?" Sasuke asked them. They told the whole story, everything from Naruto's mom to the village.

"You have a mom?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"Nah, I grew out of a pumpkin."

"Fuck you, too."

"Hold it, you guys," Kakashi said, interrupting the heated conversation. "Our mission, according to your mother, is to go to Shirayosha Village. I know where that is."

"Where is it?" Naruto asked him.

"On the south-eastern border of the Fire Country. It's…where the Uzumaki clan was strongest, aside from Konoha and Uzushiogakure."

"I see…" Naruto said with a heavy sigh. He wasn't sure he was ready to meet all his "brethren" yet.

"Sensei," Sakura started, "do you know anybody named Kuna Ruki?"

"Ah, young Robin."

"Robin?" Sasuke asked out of curiosity.

"Yeah, that's her nickname."

"Well, why do we have to find her? Is she really that important?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi reached over and pinched Naruto's nose and give him a grin.

"Kuna Ruki is Kushina's adopted daughter."


	15. Ch13 - The Lie

**A/N: Guest: Thank you for subscribing to my story, I really appreciate it. Team Kakashi did not find the mom and the kid. The team set up camp in the forest and the mom and kid happened to stumble across them while running away from Yajai ^_^ Sorry if it was confusing. **

** Slipper: I make these chapters short because I love to troll my audience ^_^ To be honest, they may be short, and sometimes you might have to wait awhile, but I intend to add a lot of chapters to the story. Thanks for reviewing though. **

**Shout out to The Keeper of Worlds. This guy is by far the best reviewer/fan/ I have for this story. No matter how long, whether it takes two days or one month, he's ALWAYS the first one to review. Cheers to him! He's one of my best motivations for this story, so give him some credit. **

"Who are you?" the raven-haired girl asked the stranger on her front door. Naruto was examining her from head to toe. She was a rather short girl, maybe around 5'0 feet tall. She had raven colored hair, and had beautiful green eyes. Her face complexion was beautiful as well. Naruto gave a slight smile but forced it down. It would be weird to be turned on by your adopted sister.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto started. "These are my friends, Sakura, Kakashi, and Sasuke."

The girl wasn't listening. She stared at the blonde haired boy. At first, she had blank expression on her face. But the expression turned sour rather quick. She turned furious all of the sudden.

"Get away from me!" she yelled, running back inside. Team 7 was confused but pursued her. They reached a very poor room. The walls were tattered, the ground had ants and rats scattering around, and the stench was beyond breathable. The girl picked up a lamp and threw it at Naruto. Naruto sidestepped and watched as the lamp broke after impacting the wall.

"Stay away! Don't come near me!" the raven girl shouted. She started to cry, holding a knife in her hands. Team 7 backed up, not wanting to harm the girl in any way. Kakashi tried to calm her down.

"Calm down, good lady," Kakashi said very soothingly. "Please, put down the knife. We won't hurt you. You have our word."

"No! I don't believe you! You're all accomplices with that demon!" the girl barked back, pointing directly at Naruto. Naruto was bewildered.

"Me?" Naruto asked, pointing to himself. "What did I do? I never have seen you before."

"Of course you don't remember me. Why would you, anyways?"

"So, why do you hate me so much?" Naruto asked her.

"Yyou killed my dad! You killed Minato!" the girl screamed at him. The group stood there in shock, especially Naruto.

"Wait…what?" Naruto asked her very softly. "I killed my own dad? When?"

Kakashi answered his question. "It wasn't really your fault, Naruto. Your dad died trying to seal the Kyuubi into you. You did not intentionally kill him."

"Liar!" the girl exclaimed. "That's not the story at all!"

"Yes, it is." Kakashi merely replied. "I was there, you know. The Third Hokage told us—"

"No! I know exactly what happened!" the girl screamed, cracking her voice. "It's a tale told throughout this village: The Demon Uzumaki. A boy who was brought into the world turned berserk. The boy took the shape of the Kyuubi and brought the Fourth Hokage, my dad, into a very critical state. At the last moment, my dad managed to reverse the 'curse' and transformed the horrific beast back into a boy."

There was a pause for the group to take it all in.

"Kakashi-sensei…that's not what you told me at all," Naruto said softly.

"That's because that wasn't what happened," he replied. He turned to the girl, who started to raise her knife. "Who told you that story, young girl?"

"The Head Chief," she answered.

"Please take us to him. We need to clear all this up," Kakashi asked with a bright grin. The girl tried to stab his face.

"Like hell!" she yelled. "Why would I do that, huh? So you can 'shut him up'? Go to hell!"

"Come on, you shitty little bitch!" Sasuke said crudely. "Take us to him…or do you want me to burn down this house?"

His words must have been harsh, as she immediately started to sob. Sakura hit the back of Sasuke's head. "That was too much!" she scolded him.

"Tch." He calmly said, crossing his arms. Sakura went up to the girl and tried to put her hand on her shoulders just to have her shrug it off.

"You people are all bullies!" the raven haired girl said, running out of the building. Like it was there duty, the group followed her. When they reached the outside, they noticed that all of the villagers gathered around the house with weapons in their hands. According to their faces, it appeared they weren't there to say a simple hello.

"You…how dare you make Robin cry?!" one of the male villagers yelled at the group.

"We didn't mean to—"

"Lair!" a pregnant woman shouted. The crowd started to get wild, screaming threats aloud.

"Calm down, my dear friends," an old man told them. They immediately stopped the rage and obeyed his whim.

Kakashi sighed. "I'm guessing that you're the village chief?"

The old man didn't' acknowledge him. He was looking at Naruto. The old man's deep glare made Naruto feel uneasy.

"So, the ferocious demon beast psychopath returns to its origin, eh?" the old man taunted Naruto. Naruto took slight offense.

"That's not what happened!" Naruto said trying to convince him. "At least, that's not what Kakashi-sensei said."

The old man lit up and glanced over at Kakashi. "So, you're the Copy Cat Ninja, Kakashi Hatake, eh? Offspring of the White Fang?"

Kakashi was startled for a moment but quickly regain his composure. "That's correct. Did my father know you, sir?"

"Oh heavens yes, we had a rich history together," the old man told him. He had a hint of sarcasm in his voice but was quite serious.

"Well, as much as I'd like to stay and talk about my father, I'd rather do something else," Kakashi told the chief.

"Oh?"

"Why did you accuse my student of destroying your village when he didn't?"

"Ah, but he did!" the old man spat out. "This boy was the bane of our destruction many years ago!"

"Where's your proof?"

"Our proof is that man over there," the village chief said, pointing at a man in the crowd. He was quite handsome though, by his wrinkles, pretty old.

"What the hell is wrong with this village?" Sasuke butted in. "Just because one greasy man said something you idiots believe him?"

"That boy's got quite the mouth, doesn't he?" the chief asked Kakashi.

"Someone cut off his tongue!" somebody said from the crowd.

"I'd love to see you try," Sasuke threatened. The crowd turned silent in fear.

"Oi, you, come here," the chief told the man in the crowd. He was hesitant but obeyed anyway.

"Yes, sir?" the man asked the chief. His voice was very low.

"Tell them what happ—"

"No need," Kakashi stopped him. "I know what he's going to say."

"Why, Sensei?" Sakura asked him. "This is the chance to clear Naruto's name."

Kakashi did not reply. Instead, he slowly walked towards the man. The man tensed up at the sight of Kakashi walking up to him.

"Long time no see, Bartholomew," Kakashi greeted the man.

One of the villagers spoke out. "How does that man know you, Bartholomew? I thought you were a secluded man?"

"I don't know this man," Bartholomew replied. Kakashi shook his head.

"You don't need to know me. But I know you."

"Holy crap, Kakashi-sensei can be way too scary sometimes," Naruto admitted. Sakura nodded in agreement. Sasuke didn't react.

"W-what do you mean by that?" Bartholomew asked him, his body shaking.

"The story you told everybody here about Naruto is a lie. I know the reason why you told the lie."

"It's not a lie!" Bartholomew barked back at him.

"Really? If she agreed to marry you, you wouldn't have started this façade, am I right?" Kakashi told him mischievously.

"What are you babbling on about?" one of the villagers yelled at Kakashi. The crowd started throwing things at him but the chief managed to calm them down."

"Mr. Hatake, please proceed," the chief told him. Kakashi nodded in acknowledgement and continued.

"You wouldn't have—"

"DON'T SAY A SINGLE WORD!" Bartholomew yelled.

"Why not?!" Kakashi barked back at him. "If you didn't lie, then you wouldn't have anything to worry about!"

"Explain yourself. Now." The chief demanded.

"Kakashi-sensei, what's going on? What does his lie have to do with marriage?" Naruto asked his sensei.

"10 days before the Kyuubi Massacre, our good friend here proposed to a woman. She rejected, saying that she already loved somebody else. He got furious at her answer and tried many different ways to prevent his lover from loving the other man."

"Who's this lucky man?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi laughed. "This man can be considered 'lucky,' but people call him by another name."

"What do they call him?" Sakura asked.

"They call him the Yellow Flash."


	16. Ch14 - The Truth

** Akshobhya: Oh my god, you got my hopes way too high up. I was jumping all over the place when I saw 65 reviews bump up to 79, but then I realized that it was mostly you. Thanks for the reviews, though. **

**Let's see how mad you guys will be in this chapter ;)**

Naruto hated the man already. A man like him wanted to marry his mom? Good thing his mom was smart and decided to marry his dad. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Sakura covered her face in shock. Kakashi just smirked through his mask.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Robin shouted at Kakashi. "You're saying that good man Bartholomew lied to us just because my mom refused to marry him?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Kakashi answered her. Robin bit her bottom lip and looked nervously at Bartholomew. He was doing his best to keep calm, but anyone with a brain can tell that he was hiding something.

"Uncle Bartholomew, is that true?" Robin asked the man.

"It's not!" he told her. He turned back to Kakashi with a stern face. "I'll admit it. I wanted to marry Kushina and tried many ways to prevent her from marrying Minato. However, the story about that monster wasn't a lie."

"Then please do me the honor of recapping the story," Kakashi asked him. "Please tell me how you knew that the boy was "turned" into the Kyuubi."

"I saw him."

"That's it? That's your proof?" Kakashi turned to the crowd. "So this man told you one thing and gave you no concrete proof and you still believe him?"

"This is Bartholomew we're talking about!" a woman from the crowd replied. "He's never lied to us before. He's a saint!" There were murmurs of agreement coming from the crowd.

"Well unfortunately for you, Bartholomew, I actually have proof," Kakashi bragged. "Please, place your hand on Naruto's chest."

Bartholomew paused. "What for?"

"It's to reveal the proof."

"Kakashi-sensei, I don't want that guy touching my chest, though," Naruto told his sensei.

Kakashi turned to him with a smile. "Would you rather have your name stay stained throughout this village?"

Naruto thought for a moment. "Fine. But what do I do?"

"You two won't do anything. Minato and Kushina will."

Naruto gulped. Bartholomew was in a very confused state. He slowly placed his hand on Naruto's chest, making Naruto flinch in the process. Almost immediately, a light radiated from where Bartholomew's hand was. To everybody else, it was just a blinding light that eventually faded. To Naruto and Bartholomew, however, they were being sent through time and space until they reached Naruto's conscious.

They both woke up into a realm of emptiness.

"What genjutsu is this?" Bartholomew asked Naruto as he got up on his feet.

"This is my conscious," Naruto explained getting on his feet as well. He smiled. "I see what Kakashi-sensei is doing."

"Yeah, well I sure as hell don't. Let me out of this place."

"Why leave so fast, Bartholomew?" a woman's voice reigned from the distance. They both recognized the voice immediately. Turning around, they were face to face with Kushina. Naruto, ignoring the incompetent man, ran to hug his mother. She happily returned the hug.

"Mom!" Naruto exclaimed." I didn't expect to see you so soon!"

"Nor I, Naruto," Kushina said with a bright smile Naruto was now comfortable with.

"Hey, no love for me?" a man called from beside them. Naruto turned to where the voice originated from. There was nothing there. But after a while, a figure started to form.

Naruto realized immediately who it was, and with tears in his eyes, ran to hug the figure.

"I'm so glad to see you…dad," Naruto said as he embraced the not yet full figure. When the figure finished materializing, Naruto felt a hand lay on his back. Minato was hugging him back.

"Look how much you've grow, Naruto," Minato said with a smile. "You remind me of Jiraiya-sensei."

"Are you calling me ugly?" Naruto joked. Minato laughed.

"No, I'm calling you a very strong man."

They kept the embrace for a long time until they heard Bartholomew cough. "Well, as much as I hate to break this family reunion, please let me out of here," Bartholomew pleaded.

"I think not," Kushina said, walking towards him. "Bartholomew, do you know what you have done?"

"What are you talking about?" Bartholomew asked her gently. Even though she was dead, the man obviously still had feelings for her.

"I know you know what truly happened during that day. Why spread lies about Naruto saying otherwise?"

"Why did you leave me and fall in love with that guy?" Bartholomew asked her, pointing at Minato. Naruto took great offense.

"My dad is a great man and I'm glad my mom married him. If she married you, I can almost guarantee that she would've lived a very desperate life."

Bartholomew started to get angry. "What did you just say, brat?"

Minato stepped in front of Naruto. "Please excuse my son. He may have grown stronger physically, but mentally," Minato said, rubbing Naruto's hair, "he's still a knucklehead."

"Dad! Why did you apologize to him? He doesn't deserve it!" Naruto told his father.

Minato gently smiled at him. "Naruto…what was the reason you left the village to become a Sage?"

Naruto was surprised at the question. "Well, it was to carry out Ero-sennin's dream."

"And what is his dream?" Minato asked.

"To make a world where peace reigns."

"How do you bring peace to the world if you cannot truly understand each other?" Minato asked him.

Naruto was dumbfounded. How can he expect others to understand each other when he can't? Naruto slowly turned over to Bartholomew and bowed his head. "I'm sorry for what I said before. Please forgive me."

Bartholomew sighed. "It's fine, I guess. Look, Minato, I don't hate you or anything. I just don't know why Kushina denied me and went after you. Is it because you saved her life?"

Kushina answered his question. "There are a million reasons why I married him. For one, he saved my life, like you said. Another reason is because of his personality. Normally, men get angry at the slightest insult. Minato isn't like that. He's very understanding and thinks of others more than himself. Not to mentions he's a very dashing man."

Minato blushed at the compliment.

"And finally," Kushina said, going up to Naruto. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's because our son would one day grow up to save the world."

Naruto was confused. "What do you mean? How do you know that I'd grow up to save the world?"

"Minato was a very strong shinobi, to be sure, and was also a very courageous and loving man. Add that to my strong willpower. Together, we'd have the greatest child the ninja world has ever seen!"

"Both of you…thought I was great?"

"You **are** great, son," Minato reassured him. "To defeat the Six Paths of Pain and to play that big of a role in the Fourth Shinobi War? No ordinary person could have achieved that!"

"You're not done yet, Naruto," Kushina told him. "There still is danger. Yajai is one of the biggest threats to you, physically and mentally. You have to give it your all to defeat him."

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement.

"I guess…I guess I understand now," Bartholomew admitted. "And for all it's worth, I'm sorry."

Kushina smiled at him. "You'll find somebody who will love you soon, Bartholomew. I'm not the only fish in the vast ocean."

"Let's hope you're right. And you…young man," Bartholomew said pointing at Naruto. "I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused you. I'll clear everything up as soon as we get out."

Naruto grinned at the man and nodded.

"Unfortunately, there is no time to say our good byes. There is danger back at the village, and you two need to return now," Minato said.

"But when will I get to see you guys again?" Naruto cried. There was no response as they were warped back into reality. Before they completely faded away, Naruto heard them both say in unison: "When Yajai falls."

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Naruto woke up to the sound of screaming. "The Rebels are coming!"

Naruto, confused, stood up and helped Bartholomew up to his feet. The sight of the two confused the villagers and Team 7. Only Kakashi understood.

"What's going on, guys?" Naruto asked his team.

"Apparently, a group of rebels are coming to invade the village," Sasuke answered.

"Should we go meet them now?" Sakura asked her sensei.

"No!" Naruto screamed. Team 7 was silent for a minute.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm going to go fight them. Alone." Naruto told them. Robin went up to him and declined.

"There is a group of fifty swordsmen there! You can't fight them alone!" Robin told him.

"What, just fifty?" Naruto bragged.

"Don't try to take all the credit, now," Sasuke warned him.

"I'm not trying to take any credit." He turned to the villagers. "You guys deem me a demon, a traitor. I want to put my life on the line in order to change your opinions of me."

The villagers stared at Naruto with idolization in their eyes. The village chief laughed loudly. "This is a good time to see what you Konoha shinobi are like."

Naruto grinned at the old man and went towards the front gates of the village. The villagers were following him from afar. Very far. Naruto had a good luck at his foes. It was a very big group of swordsmen dressed in fur armor. They had tattoos on their left cheek spelling out "Death."

The group of swordsmen stopped. They laughed putridly when they saw Naruto alone with the villagers way back behind him.

"What is this?" the man in the front asked. He was apparently the leader, as he was wearing iron armor instead of fur. "The villagers are sending one shinobi to fight us while they hide all the way back? Ha!"

"Fifteen seconds," Naruto said bluntly.

"What did you say, punk?" the leader yelled.

"No, ten seconds. I'll finish this in ten seconds."

The leader started laughing. The group followed suit. "Hey, did you hear that, boys?! This boy thinks he can beat us in ten seconds!"

Naruto suddenly turned orange, which signified Bijuu Mode being active. Naruto blitzed the first person, the man directly right to the leader. Naruto sent a punch so hard, his jaw rearranged itself.

It took the group no time at all to notice. "What…what's going on here?" the leader yelped out.

The second one went down.

"Who is this man?!" the leader cried out.

The third one went down.

"Fight back, you lot!" the leader ordered his group.

The fourth one went down.

"Help us, Captain!" one of the swordsmen cried out as he got blitzed by Naruto.

The fifth one went down. Seven seconds have past and forty nine was down. Only the leader was left.

"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled. The Rasengan hit the leader's chest. Not only did the iron armor break, but the force of the Rasengan was so powerful it destroyed the man's heart.

As the man fell, Naruto turned back to normal and smirked. "This is the TRUE power of the demon."

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Two days have passed since Naruto's victory. Bartholomew admitted to the village that what he said about Naruto was a lie. Naruto helped out his new friend by pleading the villagers to forgive him. They did.

When Naruto won, the villagers were more than happy. They threw the biggest party they could afford and invited Naruto and his group as VIP guests. Robin had a change of heart to, especially to Naruto. They danced, talked, and pulled pranks together like they were best friends. It was good to have a new friend.

Naruto was sitting on a bench outside his temporary house and admired the outdoor beauty. He kept thinking back to his parents, sometimes even Yajai. In the end, he just looked up at the sky and enjoyed what nature had to offer.

Robin appeared out of her house and smiled at Naruto. Robin had been much less hostile since Naruto saved the village. She took a seat right next to Naruto and offered him an apple.

"Thanks," Naruto thanked her.

"Don't mention it," she said with a smile. Naruto smiled back as well.

They sat in silence as Naruto ate his apple. Eventually, he asked her about his mission.

"That reminds me! There was a reason for me coming here," Naruto told her.

"What, it wasn't to visit your adopted sister?" Robin asked, sticking her tongue out. Naruto laughed.

"There's that. But then there's the matter with Yajai."

"Who's that?"

"He's a masked man who's up to no good. Let's leave it at that for now."

"So what do you want from me, then?" Robin asked him.

"I don't know, really. My –err, our mom, told me to go to this village and meet you. I thought you knew something about that man."

"I'm really sorry, I don't."

"It's fine," Naruto said with a smile. They entered silence again. This time, it was Robin who broke it.

"Naruto…there's something I need to tell you."

Naruto turned around. "What is it?"

Robin cupped his cheeks, leaned in and kissed him. It wasn't a sibling kiss. It was a passionate kiss. Naruto struggled to get out, but Robin held on to the best of her power. Naruto knew it was wrong, but he dropped down his struggle and kissed her back. Eventually, she released him.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I just had too." And then she left.

Naruto sat there in shock as he recalled his adopted sister kissing him. It felt nice, but felt very wrong. What shocked him even more, however, was the sight of Sakura standing in the corner, crying.

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**A/N: Yep, bring on the hate. As a writer, I'm supposed to be immune it. Just remember this: THIS IS A FRICKIN' NARUTO X SAKURA STORY! JUST CALM DOWN AND LET ME DO MY OWN SHIT!**

**Thank you. **


	17. Ch15 - Where is she!

**A/N: God DAMN, so many reviews! Thanks to all who reviewed, and surprisingly, The Keeper of Worlds didn't review first for the first time ever ;)**

** Guest: Thank you for your constructive criticism. In fact, I actually used your criticism to improve this chapter. Thanks again. **

** dark dreamer: This is probably the nicest review I've ever received…EVER! You're THANKING me for being awesome? Holy shit, that makes me feel good! Oh my god, I'm drunk on happiness right now :D**

** Sukutai Chiko: I'm glad you like the first two chapters even though they were poorly made. Get a good glimpse over them again because I intend to rewrite the whole beginning. It was just so bad! I pinched myself so many times the day I reread those chapters. **

** Superaki3: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" what? Lol**

** The Keeper of Worlds: I'm still shocked that you were not the first reviewer on the previous chapter, but I'll let it slide this time ;) To answer your review, you're probably the only person here who ACTUALLY wants Sakura to wield the Rinnegan. Credits for bravery. To be honest, I haven't the slightest clue what to do with the Rinnegan. I'll let you guys debate over it. **

** kidloco: What will happen next? I'll piss you off even more in this chapter. That's what's next xD**

** Alexander Prudence Halliwell: You are the first man (woman, right?) to actually guess Yajai's identity. Whether it's right or not will be revealed soon enough, but please don't assume that this is the answer. **

** Tahkz01: You found the chapter funny? :P I found it more heroic and sad than funny lol. **

**What's your opinion on Robin so far? Please answer this question in the review section so I can get a better glimpse of her. This character isn't meant to be hated, so if you hate her, boo hoo. D:**

**I'm bashing Sakura quite a lot this chapter. Deal with it. It's for the sake of plot. If you can't handle it, then stop reading. **

_It's been 13 years since Yajai fell. Naruto was living at a mansion back in Konoha. After all, killing such an infamous villain gets your reputation around. Naruto was on the sofa, playing with his daughter, Ichi. Ichi was his pride and joy, along with his wife, of course. _

"_Do you want daddy to lift you up into the air?" Naruto asked the baby girl. She laughed in response. _

"_I'll take that as a yes," Naruto said, laughing along as he lifted her up into the air. Ichi's laugh turned into a somewhat hysterical laugh. Naruto was glad that he could make his daughter laugh so hard. _

_All of the sudden, he smelt the scent of something burning near him. Ichi smelled it too and buried her face into her father's chest. Naruto called to his wife. _

"_Honey! I think the pie is overheating! Can you get it?" Naruto called out. A woman responded immediately. _

"_I'm coming, dear!" the woman called back to him. Naruto looked back at his daughter. _

"_Don't worry, baby girl, mommy is going to save the day!" Naruto joked with her, causing the baby to laugh. _

_Naruto heard the creak of a door opening and turned to smile at the woman. "You look beautiful," Naruto said to her. _

_Naruto saw Ichi smiling at the woman as well. _

_The raven haired woman smiled back at her family. _

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"Sakura!" Naruto yelled out, chasing her throughout the village. She did not stop. She did not even respond.

"Sakura! I said I'm sorry! What else do you want from me?" Naruto asked her.

"Just leave me alone to think!" she finally replied. "You are not helping at all by chasing me!"

"I just want to clear things up! Please stop!" Naruto cried out. The pink haired girl slowed down to a halt. Naruto turned her shoulder around.

"Listen. That's not what it looks like. At all," Naruto began to explain.

"What did I see, then?" Sakura questioned him. "I saw you kissing back."

"I was just caught up in the moment…She was my first kiss, after all. Well, besides that Sasuke incident when we were younger, but that wasn't a legit first kiss."

"I have one question for you, Naruto Uzumaki. Answer me truthfully."

Naruto nodded.

"Did you like the kiss?" she asked him. Naruto didn't know what to say. He knew it was wrong, but deep down, the kiss felt really good. It felt like he was kissing an angel.

Sakura took his silence as the answer and left. She should've hit him right there and then, but what would that have done? It wouldn't prevent anything.

Naruto stood there in shame. What was wrong with him? Although technically Robin wasn't his genetic sister, his parents considered her as a daughter. _'Damn, I wish I could talk to my parents about this…'_

There was only one thing left to do now: Go talk to Robin. There must have been a reason for her actions. You don't just kiss your brother for nothing.

Naruto checked her house but she was nowhere in sight. He decided to go ask the village chief. When he asked him the question, however, the village chief refused to reply. In fact, he did not even say a word.

"Why are you ignoring me, old man?" Naruto asked impolitely, as usual. The chief took no offense but still refused to reply.

"Is this how you treat you're village heroes? Especially when you called them a traitor your whole life?" Naruto asked the chief in disappointment. The chief looked at Naruto and started to say something, but stayed silent again.

"Fine, then don't answer me," Naruto said, starting to leave. As he neared the chief's front door, the chief started to mutter something.

"What was that?" Naruto asked him, going towards the chief. Unbeknownst to Naruto, however, the chief started to weep. Naruto kneed down and put a reassuring hand on the man's shoulder.

"Are you okay? Did I ask for too much?" Naruto asked, his voice full of pity. The chief screamed. The scream made Naruto jump.

"Oi old man, why are you screaming?" Naruto asked him. The village chief, still crying, started to cry even harder.

"ROBIN! I'M SO SORRY! I DIDN'T HAVE ANY OTHER CHOICE!" the chief screamed. The chief was now bawling with tears.

Naruto didn't know what to say or do. All he was thinking about was Robin. Why did the chief apologize to her? Why did he start crying?

"Gramps, what got you like this?" Naruto asked him.

The village leader was too busy crying. Eventually, he replied to his question. "I-I'm not allowed to say," he admitted.

"Say what?" Naruto asked, his temper starting to rise. He didn't know why, but he was very worried about Robin and her safety.

"I-I can't…" the chief began. Naruto didn't want to hear it. He left the building and started asking the locals. They all gave him the same repetitive silence.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Naruto said in fury. He had just finished asking the twelfth person. It has been nearly a day and Robin still hasn't returned. Was she in trouble? If so, why didn't any of the locals tell him?

"I can't hold it in anymore!" he heard somebody scream. It sounded like a voice of a very young female child. He turned around and saw that he was correct. A young girl was trying to break free from her mother. Naruto walked towards her.

"Do you have anything to say, kid?" Naruto asked the girl. She took offense.

"I'm not a kid!" she yelled back.

"Okay, 'ma'am,' tell me what you know."

"No, Yuki!" the mother told her. "We are forbidden to tell outsiders!"

"No, mom!" the girl screamed back at her. "We can't keep doing this to Robin. It's not fair how she's suffering for us!"

"Did you just say 'suffer'?" Naruto asked the child. Now he was curious beyond all measure.

"Follow me, hero," the girl said, getting rid of her mother's hold on her. The girl started to run but the mother tried to pull her back. Naruto stopped her.

"Please ma'am, I know this is not formal, but my…friend is in dire trouble right now. I need to help her," Naruto begged the woman. Obviously, she was very hesitant. What mother would want their daughter to walk into hell? In the end, seeing as her child was accompanied by the town hero, she agreed.

"Just… promise me you'll bring her back alive," the woman asked the blonde shinobi. Naruto put his hand on her shoulder.

"Not only will I bring her back alive, but Robin as well." This made the mother smile, and she slowly backed away.

"Lead on, kid," Naruto told the girl.

"I'm not a—whatever, just follow me!" the girl said, gesturing Naruto to follow her. Before they could even take three steps, Sakura appeared. Things were not going to turn out well.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked her in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't think you should go," Sakura said softly. Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"What did you say? You want me to leave her in danger?" Naruto asked her.

"We-we don't even know if she really is in danger or not. Maybe it's just a trick to make you care for her…"

Naruto was steaming right now. He didn't know why he was so angry. He started spewing words he didn't mean to say.

"Sakura, I've had enough!" Naruto screamed at her. His tone surprised her. This was probably his first time yelling at her, ever.

"Why the hell does it matter if I want to save her, huh? What is wrong with saving somebody, huh? What if…what if I say I really do like her?!" Naruto screamed at her. Sakura was baffled.

"You…you're saying you actually…like her? As in, romantically?" Sakura asked him. Sakura didn't even try to hide in her anger. She started shouting back.

"What about me, Naruto?!" she screamed. "I thought you liked me!"

"I do!" Naruto admitted. "I mean, I did—I just don't know right now. All I know is that Robin is in huge danger right now."

Sakura still couldn't believe what he was saying. She didn't even shed a single tear. She was just furious! However, as a medic at Konoha Hospital, she knows how precious a life is. She couldn't let Robin die, no matter what it meant.

"I'll come with you," Sakura told him. Naruto raised his eyebrow.

"_You _want to come with me to save Robin? Why the sudden change of heart?" Naruto asked her mischievously.

"I'm a medic, aren't I? I know how important a life is…even if it's hers."

Naruto held his breath for a moment. He released his breath and his lips transformed into a smile. A grin! Sakura was confused, and her confusion skyrocketed when Naruto embraced her.

"Thank you, Sakura," Naruto said as he held her even tighter. Sakura did not feel like blushing. Instead, she smiled. She loved Naruto's warmth and scent. It made her feel at home.

She could've stayed under his embrace for all eternity, but a life was at stake. She pushed Naruto back.

"We need to save Robin," Sakura said out plainly. Naruto nodded.

"If you two are done with whatever you're doing, follow me," the kid said, obviously annoyed. Naruto and Sakura followed her. The kid led them out of the village where there was a shrine. The shrine was supposed to be a nocturnal goddess of some sort. When they arrived, they saw Sasuke and Kakashi standing there. They looked exhausted. At their feet lay a slain monster.

"Kakashi-sensei? Teme?" Naruto asked them. The two of them turned around to match his voice to his body.

"Oh, it's you," Sasuke said with a sigh. "We could've used your help, you know."

"Help with what?" Sakura asked him.

"We saw that raven haired girl," Kakashi explained. "She was apparently trying to fight this beast to no avail. She easily lost. We went to help her, but when our backs were turned, she disappeared.

Naruto glared at the monster. It sort of resembled the nocturnal statue. It had the figure of a woman, yet had the body of an octopus. He turned around to scan the area. He saw something moving behind the trees. It was moving at a pretty fast pace. The only way to catch up was to go Bijuu Mode, and he did. In a flash, he appeared right next to the shadowy figure.

He saw Robin, unconscious, on a woman's back. The woman had long brown hair that reached all the way down to her hips. She was limping very badly. Robin didn't look very heavy, yet the woman looked like she was about to collapse.

"Who are you?!"Naruto screamed at the woman. "Did you knock Robin out?"

By this time, the rest of Team 7 managed to catch up with Naruto.

"Goddamn, you baka, stop flashing away without telling us where you're going first," Sasuke scolded Naruto. He looked over at the brown haired woman and went on guard. The rest of the group did the same. Everybody except Kakashi, that is. He spoke up.

"How are you still alive…Rin?"

**Not my best work, I'll admit. Things won't get interesting without this part coming first, though. Sorry about that. ^_^**


	18. Ch16 - Remembrance

**A/N:**

** butterflyV: This is why NaruSaku is complicated. I intend to show this complication throughout the story. **

** Alexander Prudence Halliwell: Really? But on your profile, it said you had a "Slender and Curvy" body type. Not to mention that your spouse's name is a man's. Anyway, sorry I confused you, "sir." ;)**

** dark dreamx: Yet ANOTHER generous paragraph. Thanks again. I didn't really give "quick" updates before. At one point, it took one month before I could update lol. **

** kidloco: Dude, I love you and everything, but I can't read a single word you say :/ Which is weird, because your FanFics are fine. I know you're Brazilian and everything, though. As for your question, no, Sakura does not have the Rinnegan yet. **

** imsbabbel: Looks like you're not a fan of a how I worked things out ;) Well, I'll just try to address the problems you've listed. **

**-I only said it for good measure. I knew I was making Sakura a little OOC and kind of a sassy bitch, so I just wanted to point that out before anybody nags me about it. **

**-I can't spoil you right now, as much as I want to. In fact, I already have the whole ending planned out. Just keep two things in mind: "Nothing is as it seems" and "This is a NaruSaku" story. Did the flash make you mad? If it did, then I did my job as a writer ^_^ **

**-At the moment, Yajai might sound like a low threat to Konoha. However, my story is not even close to being finished. The only thing I'm going to say here is yes, Yajai will become a greater threat than all the other exploits. Or at least that's what I'm planning. **

** The Keeper of Worlds: Decided to review first this time, eh? By the way, Digimon rules. :D**

**Tahkz01: "Different" in a good or bad way? **

**A couple important things. **

**Do you guys want to have a KakaXRin side romance in the story? It's doable. I just don't know what to do with Rin yet lol. **

**THOUGHTS ON ROBIN? Come on, guys. I need you guys to give me some feedback on her here. Do you hate her, love her, or just simply don't care for her at all? **

**STOP OVERCOMPLAINING ABOUT THAT FORESHADOW! Just let me do my part, and you'll love me and this story soon enough.**

**I made this chapter extra special for you guys as a way to express my gratitude. It's longer, too. **

"This is a nice place, Rin," Kakashi complimented. Rin smiled back in reply.

"Enjoy your stay. My house is obviously your house," she said cheerily. Sasuke scoffed.

"Are you kidding, sensei?" he said in disbelief. "This house looks like shi—" Sakura covered his mouth.

"Are you crazy?" she whispered in his ear. "Be polite to her! She's our sensei's friend!"

Sasuke removed his head from her grasp and crossed his shoulders in silence.

Naruto continued to carry Robin. Rin had a very weak spine and could no longer hold onto Robin. He looked at Robin and smiled, feeling relieved that she was alright. He heard Rin speak up.

"You can lay her on my bed," Rin said with a smile. She sure smiled a lot, but it was refreshing to see. Almost as relaxing as Sakura's.

Naruto didn't hesitate. He placed Robin down in the bed and bit his bottom lip. Rin saw his expression and laughed.

"Don't worry about her. I used my medical ninjutsu to keep her in check. She's fine. She'll wake up eventually."

Naruto smiled at her. "Thank you for taking care of her, Rin-chan." She giggled.

"Rin-chan? That's new," she said in a very bright tone.

"Wait, Rin-chan, you are a medical kunoichi?" Sakura asked her. Kakashi answered her question.

"Yeah. She was on my old team. She's an excellent healer, Sakura. One to match you, hell, even Tsunade-sama."

Rin blushed. "I'm not that good, Kakashi."

Kakashi laughed. "You're underestimating yourself, Rin. Without you, me, Obito, even Minato-sensei would've died at some point."

"Sounds like she's an important asset to the team," Sasuke complimented, which was odd.

"Next to Minato-sensei, I think she's the greatest asset to the team," Kakashi said with a grin.

"That's not true, Kakashi, and you know it!" Rin accused. "You became Jonin at such a young age, it wasn't even funny. You were smart, strong, handsome—" Rin blushed like a tomato when she realized what she just said.

Naruto whistled. "Wow sensei, seems like you still have a crush, even at your age."

"He's thirty, idiot," Sasuke insulted. "It's disgusting, I know, but thirty year olds still find love somehow."

"Aww, Sasuke-kun believes in love," Naruto accused in a very sarcastic voice.

"Do you wanna fight?"

"You know I'll fight you anytime, anywhere. Even now."

"I won't let you two," Sakura butted in. "Guys, please show some ounce of respect for Rin-chan,"

Rin giggled. "It's fine. Obito and Kakashi used to argue like that all the time. It's kind of nostalgic when I think about it."

"The feeling's mutual," Kakashi said.

There was a silence. Kakashi started to speak up.

"Rin…I—"

"Stop yourself there, Kakashi. I don't want to talk about it."

"Even if you don't, I need to know how you're still alive…and why you don't hate me yet."

Rin sighed and took a seat on her sturdy bed next to Robin. The rest of the group followed suit.

Naruto spoke up in curiosity. "What exactly happened between you two? Kakashi-sensei said you were supposed to be dead."

"I was. Or, at least, for a time," Rin said. "I was rescued though."

"By who?" Sakura asked her.

"You should know, Kakashi," Rin said, turning to him. He placed a hand on his headband, honoring where he got his Sharingan.

"By Obito, right?"

"Obito?" Naruto asked his sensei. "The man we fought during the war?"

"That's right, Naruto," Kakashi replied.

"Why and how did he save you?" Sasuke asked Rin.

"He apparently made Madara insert the First Hokage's genes into me, giving me some sort of physical boost," Rin started to explain. "As for 'why'…"

The group waited in anticipation for her answer. Rin sighed.

"He admitted his feelings to me…"

It took a while for the group to soak in the news, but Kakashi wasn't really surprised. "So what did you tell him?" Kakashi asked her.

Rin was silent. She kept staring at her feet and twiddled her fingers. She knew she couldn't hide it forever, so she answered him.

"I told him that I had feelings for somebody else…"

"You…can stop there, Rin," Kakashi told her.

Silence fell for the third time.

"Everyone," Kakashi said to his team. "Leave me alone with Rin. Please. We have to catch up on…things."

Sakura put a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "You got it, sensei. Come on guys, let's leave these two alone."

"About time," Sasuke said with a groan.

"Please look after Robin," Naruto asked Rin. Rin smiled at him and nodded in reassurance. Naruto smiled back, and with that, the three of them left.

****Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura****

"Do you guys want to head back to the village?" Sakura asked her two male companions. Sasuke answered her.

"There's no reason to go back there anymore. We've seen Naruto's sister already," he answered.

"He's got a point, Sakura-chan," Naruto agreed.

"All right, then," Sakura said with the laugh. "Then how about we sit here and talk about the old days?"

"That's even worse than going back to the village again," Sasuke told her in disgust.

"Why?" Sakura asked teasingly. "You don't want to remember your little kiss with Naruto?"

"That was an accident!" the two boys shouted in unison. Sakura laughed.

"Well, we could also talk about the Chunin Exams," Sakura suggested.

"You mean the day I kicked Neji's ass?" Naruto said with a grin.

"That was a lucky shot, Naruto," Sakura said back.

"No, it was thanks to my supreme battle tactics," Naruto bragged.

"Neither of you did as good as me. I fought the kid everybody was scared of," Sasuke rebutted.

"In which I had to later save your sorry ass!" Naruto said back full of pride.

"I didn't need saving," Sasuke said, crossing his arms.

"I thought you didn't want to talk about this, Sasuke?" Sakura said, sticking out her tongue.

Sasuke laughed, which surprised his teammates. "We did some crazy shit before, didn't we?"

"A ton," Naruto said, laughing back.

"Remember the time we tried to reveal Kakashi's mask?" Sasuke asked Naruto with a slight smile.

"There's no way I could forget! We failed so many times that day! And remember when I had to chase your ass all the way to the Final Valley?"

"I remembered when I kicked your ass at the Final Valley," Sasuke answered him.

"You got a lucky shot. That was it."

"Guys…" Sakura started to say. The two boys turned to her, waiting for her response.

"I love you guys. A lot."

"Don't forget about Kakashi sensei!" Naruto said with a bright grin. The statement made Sakura laugh.

"Of course not! Who could forget that masked pervert?"

"Me," Sasuke bluntly said.

"Don't even try to lie," Naruto told him. Sakura shook her head, but eventually smiled. At least the team was unique in its own way.

"I'm going to go get Kakashi," Sakura said.

"Isn't he busy? You know, 'catching up' with Rin?" Sasuke told her.

"That can wait. I want him to remember the old days with us," Sakura answered him.

"Sounds like a great idea, Sakura-chan!" Naruto told her.

She smiled at him and turned to enter the building.

"Hey Naruto," Sasuke called him. Naruto turned around.

"You need something, teme?" he replied.

"Let's spar," Sasuke said with a smirk. Naruto grinned.

"It's been awhile since we fought each other," Naruto said in remembrance.

"Way too long," Sasuke agreed.

"Then let's not delay any further," Naruto said with a grin. Sasuke nodded.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" Sasuke screamed, creating speedy hand signs.

Naruto sidestepped the fireball and threw three shurikens in rapid succession. Sasuke, having already activated his Sharingan, easily dodged them. While Sasuke was dodging them, Naruto created an army of shadow clones. One hundred of them.

"Not this useless trick again," Sasuke said, shaking his head in disappointment. However, when he looked up, he realized that every clone was in Sage Mode.

"Nice," Sasuke complimented him. Smirking, all the shadow clones jumped up into the air.

"Sage Art: Massive Rasengan Barrage!" Naruto yelled. All of the Naruto's grew huge Rasengan's in their hands. They were closing in on Sasuke.

Sasuke closed one eye. As the Naruto's grew nearer, Sasuke opened his eye. "Amaterasu: Dragon Twister!"

A spiral of black flames grew around him in the shape of a spring. The flame, which started out close together, expanded and hit all of the clones.

"Oodama Rasengan!" Sasuke heard someone yell from behind him. Apparently, while the clones were being slaughtered, two other Naruto's stood in the back, preparing their next attack.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!" Sasuke screamed. Multiple fire pellets spewed from his mouth, all aiming for Naruto. The two Naruto's charging the Oodama Rasengan dispersed after being hit by Sasuke's technique. Both of them were shadow clones.

All of the sudden, he felt a kick, a very hard one, hit his hip, sending him flying a couple of yards. The kick was so hard that Sasuke vomited blood. Sasuke managed to regain his balance after doing a couple of flips. After landing on his feet, he saw Naruto, the real one, standing with a smirk.

"Spamming those Shadow Clones again, eh?" Sasuke said to him.

"It's my specialty, after all. Why wouldn't I use it?" Naruto replied.

"Fair enough. I don't know if you noticed yet, but I already have this match in the bag."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked him. "I just kicked you square on your side. You haven't hit me at all."

After a quick smirk, Sasuke said: "Lightning Style: Land Mine Jutsu!"

Naruto, realizing a second too late, yelped out as lightning burst from the ground where Naruto stood. Naruto was too sent flying. The voltage sent large amount of shock throughout his body, which made him grunt in pain.

Like Sasuke, he too managed to recover from the sudden attack, regaining his foothold.

"When did you plant that mine?" Naruto asked his opponent.

"After using Amaterasu: Dragon Twister. I knew you were too clever to be defeated by that move, so I used the lightning mine just in case. Looks like it worked."

"It did," Naruto admitted. "Are you done with the warm up yet?"

"Hell yes. Let's get into the real game," Sasuke said, activating his Mangekyo Sharingan. Naruto began to gather Kurama's energy, but he stopped when he heard screaming from inside Rin's house. Sasuke apparently heard it too, as he deactivated his Sharingan.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"Dunno. Let's check it out."

As they were nearing the building, they heard the voices of Sakura and Kakashi. They were arguing with each other. Naruto looked at Sasuke for an answer, but he was clueless as well.

As Naruto reached for the doorknob, Kakashi burst out, his face full of sadness and anger, pulling Rin along with him. Inside, Sakura was crying. When she saw Naruto, she ran up to hug him.

"Sakura-chan! What's wrong? Why did I hear you two screaming at each other?"

Sakura was unable to answer. She just continued to sob. Heavily.

"Sakura, what's wrong? Why did Kakashi leave so angry?" Sasuke asked her.

Sakura still refused to respond. Whatever made her cry must have been severe. Naruto and Sasuke decided to give her some time to compose herself.

After about five minutes of crying, Sakura released her grip on Naruto and started to wipe away her tears. She looked at Naruto, then to Sasuke.

"Are you able to talk now?" Sasuke asked her. Sakura nodded.

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked her in pity.

Sakura started to take in deep breaths to build up her courage. She looked at Naruto with sad eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei quit Team 7."


	19. Ch17 - Why?

**A/N: I'm not going to bother replying to each and every one of you this time. All of you have said something about Kakashi leaving being surprising. **

** Invalid String: Are you new to this story? If so, welcome! I hope you come to stay with my story till the end. :D**

** kidloco: Thank you for being the only one to actually give me feedback on Robin. I really appreciate it. You obviously don't like NaruHina. Too bad…I do ;)**

**I mean some of you want Sakura to wield the Rinnegan and some of you don't. Because of this, I'll save the Rinnegan for later chapters. **

** Tahkz01: I should thank YOU for reading and reviewing this story :D I really appreciate it. **

** Abdullahsaurus: Sure! Any technique I create during this story is free for anyone to use. Hell, you don't even have to credit me for it!**

**This chapter is a tad bit sloppy, so please forgive me. Exams are coming up, which is obviously making me procrastinate. **

"Because…" Kakashi started to explain to his former students. They didn't want to hear it.

"Kakashi sensei! Stop!" Naruto told him with a mix of fury and sadness. "There should be no 'because!' We've been a team for as long as I can remember. More than a team…a family…my family…"

Sasuke stood there, glaring at his sensei with great caution. He was trying his best to keep his cool, but his heart told him otherwise.

Sakura never stopped crying. The thought of their sensei leaving for no absolute reason tore her apart. It was chaos inside her head.

"Kakashi, please," Rin started to tell him. "It's fine. You don't need to stay with me."

"Stay with her?" Naruto asked his sensei. "Sensei, don't tell us you are leaving us to live with Rin-chan!"

"I owe her that much," Kakashi replied. "A lot more than that, actually."

"What about us?" Sakura asked him in a stuttering voice. Kakashi sighed.

"You guys are now more than capable of living without me," he started to explain. "Naruto and Sasuke are already stronger than me by a fair margin. You are a superb medical kunoichi. You really don't need me to be able to defeat Yajai."

"Do you not understand how we feel?!" Naruto screamed at his sensei with a very powerful shout. "Whether or not we're capable of killing Yajai without you is debatable, but that's not what I'm talking about! We're a family. If you saw your dad leaving you to live with somebody else, how would you feel?"

Kakashi bit his lip through his mask.

"Well?" Naruto asked him, his voice lowering a bit.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. To you all. But I can't continue running around with you guys anymore."

"At least do us the decency and tell us why you can't!" Sakura asked him.

"I..." Kakashi looked over at Rin, then back to Sakura. "I can't say."

"This is hopeless," Sasuke said on the situation, and he was right. It was hopeless. Kakashi didn't seem like he changed his mind at all.

"I'm really sorry, you guys…" Kakashi said as he poofed himself and Rin away. Just like that, their master for many years was gone.

"I lost two masters…" Naruto said, beginning to bring out tears.

Sakura couldn't handle it anymore. She went berserk. She started making unusual noises while streams of tears ran down her face. Sasuke looked better, but probably felt the same on the inside. They all did. How can their master leave without feeling bad about it?

Naruto suddenly remembered something. "Robin!" he screamed. Sasuke and Sakura, who were still upset, acknowledged Naruto as they all went to check on Robin. When they arrived at Rin's house, they saw Robin sitting on the bed, reading one of Rin's books. She grinned when she saw Naruto. She dropped her book and ran up to kiss him.

Naruto obviously didn't expect her to do that, at least not in front of his teammates. He was unsure of what to do, but before he could act, Robin released her lips from Naruto's. Naruto looked back to see a somewhat angry Sakura. Refocusing his sights on Robin again, he could see her smiling. Naruto smiled too, although he was in a very awkward situation at the time.

"Why are you so happy, Robin?" Naruto asked her.

"I'm just happy to see you, that's all," she replied, keeping her delicate smile. Naruto had the urge to just push his lips onto hers, but kept it back. After all, a certain pink haired kunoichi was there.

"Hey you," Sasuke asked Robin. Robin didn't take offense at being called "you".

"Yes?" Robin replied.

"Were you awake when we left?" Sasuke asked her.

"Yeah, she was," Sakura answered him for her. "She was awake when I got in the room."

"When did you wake up?" Sasuke asked her.

"Right after you left," she replied. "I actually saw you guys leave."

"That means you saw and heard everything Kakashi and Rin were saying, right?"

"Who's Rin?" Robin asked him. He shook his head.

"Doesn't matter. Can you retell what you heard those two talk about?" Sasuke asked her.

"They were talking about the old days when they were a team," she began to tell. "Then they talked about 'how she survived' and 'is he expected soon?' That stuff."

"Who expected when?" Sakura asked her.

"Beats me. The brown haired woman blushed when she heard him say that, though."

"This just doesn't make any sense. Why would our sensei do that to—"

"Help! Help us!" they heard someone say from outside the house. A man barged into the door with an exclaimed expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Pateri?" Robin asked him.

"A masked man and a sly woman are reaping havoc over the village!" Pateri answered her. He turned to the shinobi.

"Please help us! We've seen what you can do! Please save our village!"

"Naruto, please help us," Robin begged him. He intended to anyways, but Robin made a puppy dog face that erased any doubts he had.

"Sure," he answered.

"I need to release all of my anger out somehow," Sasuke said. "This sounds like an excellent opportunity to do so."

"Same goes for me," Sakura agreed.

Naruto released his hold from Robin and made his way towards the village. His companions did the same. The village was on fire, smoke rendering from almost every building. In the center of the village stood two figures: A masked man and a tall woman. The group easily identified the masked man as Yajai, but who was the woman?

"Yajai! Stop!" Naruto demanded as he neared him. Yajai didn't bother to turn around. He recognized the voice by heart.

"So the rumors were true," Yajai calmly replied. "You really did come to this village. May I ask why?"

"No, you can't," was Naruto's answer to him. "It's none of your business."

"I'm afraid that's not true, Naruto," he replied. "Mitzuei! Bring out our little friend."

"Hai, Yajai-sama," the woman next to him answered. She went into one of the buildings and pulled out the village chief. He was tied up.

"Don't listen to whatever this man wants!" the village chief warned Naruto. "Forget about me! You must kill him! This—"

Mitzuei slapped him hard across the face. "How dare you speak about Yajai-sama like that?"

"Fuck your Yajai…" the chief mumbled without regret. Mitzuei was about to slap him again, but then Yajai merely laughed.

"Such incompetence!" Yajai screamed out. "I would love to kill you right now, old man. People like you blockade us from the obvious truth."

"Don't talk to the chief like that!" Robin screamed at him. Naruto pushed her back.

"Don't get so angry, Robin. He's baiting you," Naruto told her. Robin slowly backed down.

"Actually, I'm baiting you, Naruto," Yajai told him. "I know the reason why Kakashi quit your little band of shinobi."

Naruto got furious immediately. "You know?! Tell me right now!"

Yajai laughed. "Let's make a bet."

"No bets!" Naruto screamed at his face.

"Don't you want to know why he left your team?" Yajai said. Naruto didn't answer him.

"Here's the deal: If you can give Miztuei a good enough fight, I'll tell you why."

"What?" Naruto asked.

"If you can beat Mitzuei, I'd be more than happy to tell you," Yajai offered.

"You mean that woman right there?" Naruto asked him, pointing to the woman next to him.

"That's right."

"Fine. You better keep your promise, though!"

"I may be considered "evil" but I never go back on my word," he said, solidifying his promise.

Mitzuei didn't wait for Yajai to start the match. "Water Style: A Thousand Needles!" she screamed, preforming a few hand signs. She spit out multiple water pellets that transformed into needles. Dozens of needle-like pellets went through Naruto. One of them went through his leg, making him kneel down in pain.

"Naruto!" Sakura and Robin shouted out at the same time. They stared at each other for a moment, but then refocused their attention to Naruto again.

"I'm fine," he told them. "None of you interfere. This is my battle."

Naruto turned bright orange, signaling Bijuu Mode. In a flash, he appeared right next to Mitzuei and punched her across the face. The force of the impact made her fly many yards into one of the village buildings. Naruto felt guilty about hitting a woman, but remembered that dire information was at stake.

Mitzuei recovered, swiping all of the dirt away from her blouse. "Impressive," she complimented him, which took him by surprise.

"You sure have grown, Naruto," Yajai said louder than he would've liked. Naruto was confused by that statement but let it slide.

"Water Style: Liquid Dante!" she screamed. Naruto put up his guard in case of another attack, but none came. Liquid Dante was not an attack, it was a transformation! Water appeared out of the air and surrounded Mitzuei. The water transformed into a gigantic water demon. Inside, at the base of its stomach, was Mitzuei. The water covered her completely so she was nowhere visible.

"What…is that?" Naruto questioned himself. He slapped himself out of it. He was sure he could beat her. It was basically a weaker version of Susanoo without weapons.

One of the water demon's arm tried to slam on top of Naruto, but he managed to teleport away at the last second. Appearing right next to the demon's side, he used his Tailed Beast Bomb. But to his most upmost surprise, the water absorbed it!

"You absorbed my Tailed Beast Bomb? Is that even possible?"

Yajai answered him. "Mitzuei's water is very absorbent. Any taijutsu and ninjutsu that hits the water immediately gets absorbed, no matter how strong the technique is."

"Water Style: A Thousand Needles!" Mitzuei screamed again. Like before, dozens of needle-like water pellets spewed out of her mouth, all aiming for Naruto. This time, thanks to his Bijuu Mode, Naruto managed dodge every single one of them.

He noticed that, for a quick second, Mitzuei pops out of the demon to preform her jutsus. Naruto used that to his advantage.

Before Mitzuei could re-enter the water demon, Naruto appeared right in front of her face and prepared a Vermilion Rasengan in his hand. Before Mitzuei could react, Naruto thrust his arm towards her, the Rasengan nearing her face. But before the Rasengan made contact, Yajai caught his arm.

"Looks like you lost, Mitzuei," Yajai said. She sighed a sigh of relief. She would've been dead if it weren't for him. Yajai saved her life again…

"Thank you, Yajai-sama."

"Don't get that careless next time," he told her. She nodded with a slight smile.

Naruto took away his arm from Yajai's grip. "I won. Now tell me what I wanted to know."

Yajai was silent for a while.

Sasuke was growing impatient. "Well? Are you going to take back your promise?"

"No, I just want to know how to break the news to you folk."

"Just tell us!" Sakura screamed at him.

Yajai started to speak.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Naruto gasped in horror. "Rin is pregnant?!"


	20. Ch18 - Crushed

**A/N: I know this is a piss late chapter, but I really don't care right now. My life is terrible right now. It's private, so I can't say, but my life is going down the drain. Let's just say I'm not in a good mood. Please excuse my future chapters if they're bad. I'm probably not going to look over and polish the future chapters until I feel better. **

** Invalid String: Knowing that you'll be staying for the rest of the story makes me feel a tad better. Thanks. **

** Minato 0077: Nope, Naruto and Robin will get married and have tons of kids. Sakura is going to die, Team 7 is going to break apart, and Konoha will be destroyed…**

**I'm kidding. But I really needed to say that. Makes me lol at myself xD**

** dark dreamer: Yajai isn't like your average villain. He isn't the "Ima kill all the good guys because I'm the villain" kind of villain. He's calm, collected, and very shabby. Keep that in mind. **

**Thanks for another nice review though **

** The Keeper of Worlds: Either I'm getting more fans, or you're getting slower at reviewing. I don't know which, but you're barely first anymore T_T**

**Kidding. You're still my favorite fan :D **

** Tahkz01: It's good to know that you're hooked into this story. I'm hoping to see you and everybody else at the end of story **

**I'm not going to say who, but to answer somebody who PM'd me: Why the FUCK would I make this a Naruto X Kushina story? -.-**

**She's dead. **

**She's his mom.**

**She's married to the great Minato-sama.**

**This is a Naru X Saku story. **

**This is not a harem. If you want to read that stuff, go to the rated M section. **

**By the way, MASSIVE Naruto X Robin in this chapter. Can't handle it, then leave :P**

_Ichi was coming home from the Konoha Academy and couldn't stop smiling the whole way home. Today was a very special day for her. It was her 15__th__ birthday. _

_She has never invited any of her friends to her past birthday parties. Not a single one. She always made sure that her birthday was celebrated with and only with her parents. She loved them to death and never regretted celebrating her birthday alone with her mom and dad. _

"_Daddy! I'm home from school!" Ichi screamed as she entered the mansion's front door. _

"_Hold on, honey, I'm shaving! Or trying to…" Naruto called back to his daughter. _

_Ichi giggled. "I don't trust you shaving yourself, daddy! Ask mom to do it for you!" _

"_Your mom is…busy, remember?. Hey, go get your uncle some beer from the fridge, will you, sweetie?" Naruto asked her. "He's going to get all cranky if he doesn't get one soon! And you know what happens when your uncle gets cranky…"_

"_Got it, dad." _

_Ichi made her way to the kitchen area. She heard the flat screen television blaring from the living room. It sounded like her uncle was watching the Suna Chunin Exams. She opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of beer. _

"_Uncle Sasuke, here's your beer," Ichi said as she entered the living room. _

"_About time. You're lazy dad too lazy to get it himself?" Sasuke asked her. _

'_Talk about lazy…' she thought. "He's shaving."_

"_What's to shave?" Sasuke asked with a piercing laugh. Ichi couldn't help but giggle too. _

"_I heard that, teme!" Naruto called from the bathroom. _

"_I don't give a shit, baka," he replied. _

"_Hey! No cursing in front of my daughter!"_

"_Don't worry, dad!" Ichi yelled to him. "I hear it all the time at the Academy. I'm pretty much used to it now." _

"_They better not be bullying you, princess. If they are, I'll shove a Tailed-Beast Bomb up their sorry—"_

"_Didn't you just say 'no cursing in front of your daughter?' Sasuke asked him. _

_Naruto didn't reply. That's what he usually does when he gets proven wrong. _

_The doorbell rang. _

"_I'll get it!" Ichi shouted. Upon opening the door, Ichi saw her aunt, Aunt Kimira."_

"_Oh, hi Aunt Kimira!" Ichi exclaimed when she saw her. The aunt smiled at her niece. _

"_It's good to see you again, Ichi," she answered her. "It's been four months since I've seen you last, right?" _

"_Five, actually, but who's counting?" Ichi said with a laugh. _

"_Happy birthday, my favorite niece," Aunt Kimira said as she shook Ichi's hair. _

"_Hey, I'm not a kid anymore. You can't just rub my hair whenever you want to!" Ichi barked, obviously offended. _

"_I'm sorry, dear," Kimira said with a smile. Her smile was so sunny that Ichi couldn't help but forgive her. "Say Ichi, do you know where that lazy husband of mine is?" _

"_He's sitting on my couch, watching the Suna Chunin Exams with a beer." _

"_Figures. We have our own mansion at home! Why doesn't that man just—"_

_She saw Ichi's curious expression and dropped her sentence._

"_Never mind," Aunt Kimira decided. _

"_Who's at the door, sweetie?" Naruto called out from the bathroom. _

"_It's Aunt Kimira, daddy!" Ichi called back. _

"_Alright, I'm done shaving. I'm coming out." _

_Naruto exited the bathroom with a clean and hairless face. Without his beard, he looked just like he did during Yajai's defeat. _

"_Hey Kimira," Naruto said, coming up to hug her. She returned the gesture. _

"_It's been awhile, Naruto," Kimira said reassuringly. _

"_Way too long. How have—"_

"_Why are you hugging my wife, you cheeky bastard?" Sasuke shouted in fury as he saw the two of them hugging. _

_Naruto released the hug and sighed. "I already have a loving wife. There's really no reason for me to steal yours." _

"_Oh sure, Naruto-kun is soooooo innocent," Sasuke mocked. _

"_We should go," Ichi said aloud. _

"_Oh yeah, we wouldn't want to miss Sakura's funeral," Naruto said. _

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Stop it, Naruto!" Robin said as she laughed hysterically. Naruto was tickling her as they sat around the campfire. The sight of the two disgusted Sakura, but above all, made her jealous. Sasuke easily noticed this.

"So, this thing about Rin being pregnant," Sasuke started, trying to release the awkwardness that came from Naruto tickling Robin. "Do you guys think that this is a good reason for Kakashi to leave?"

"I mean, I can't necessarily say it's 'wrong' to leave because of your close friend's pregnancy, but…we've had so much history together!" Naruto explained. Sasuke and Sakura nodded.

"So what should we do?" Sakura asked. "Do we just drag Kakashi with us? I don't think he'd be happy with that idea."

"Obviously not," Sasuke answered her. "And I don't think he'd be happy to leave his pregnant girlfriend, either."

"We can't guarantee that Kakashi-sensei has a 'thing' for Rin. He didn't act like it in Rin's house."

"Actually," Robin started to speak to Sakura's disgust, "I heard something as I woke up."

"What's did you hear, Robin-chan?" Naruto asked her. Sakura clenched her fists in hatred. Did he just call Robin "chan?" He just met her, not to mention he's older than her! She had though that the suffix was used only for her…

Robin giggled. "Why, thank you, Naruto-kun," she said as she leaned in to give him a kiss on his cheek. He blushed bright red when her lips made contact with his skin. Sakura wanted to pound her face in right about then.

"As I was saying," Robin continued. "As I was waking up, I heard your sensei saying that he was 'sorry' and that the baby was 'all his fault.'"

There was a rather long pause.

"What are you saying, woman?" Sasuke asked her.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked him. "I told you all I heard."

"You expect us to believe that Kakashi sensei made her pregnant?" Sakura questioned her in disbelief.

"Look," she replied calmly. "I know I'm new to you guys so you don't trust me yet, but everything I've said is true. Whether or not your sensei caused her pregnancy is beyond me."

"I believe her," Naruto butted in.

"Obviously," Sakura murmured quietly. Nobody seemed to notice.

Sasuke rubbed his eyes for a couple seconds. "I guess we could go ask Kakashi himself. After all, asking him is the only way to prove Robin's words."

"Well then, let's go right now!" Sakura said as she got up to leave.

"Actually," Sasuke interrupted her, "I was thinking maybe we could get some shuteye first."

"Is it really the time to be sleeping?" she asked him.

"I need to rest my head for the inevitable drama tomorrow," Sasuke reminded her as he pulled out his sleeping bag.

"There are only three sleeping bags, though," Naruto pointed out, looking at Robin. She merely smiled at him.

"No problem. I can sleep on the ground. It sort of reminds me of camping when we were little," she answered.

"You guys sleep on the ground when you go camping?" Sasuke asked her with a quick smirk.

"Do we look like a wealthy village to you?" she asked him. "We have more important things to spend our money on than sleeping bags."

With that, she laid herself down near the campfire. She looked fine when you look at her, but everybody could tell that she felt like shit on the inside.

"Get up," Naruto commanded as he lifted her up. Robin tried to pull herself away from him.

"Stop, Naruto!" Robin told him. "I'm fine!"

"No, you know and I know that you're not. You're sleeping with me tonight."

That rather bold statement made everybody silent. Sasuke gave a small chuckle, Robin blushed, and of course, Sakura was gleaming with anger.

"Isn't that a little inappropriate, Naruto?" Robin asked him, still blushing heavily.

"It's not like we're getting naked or anything. You're just going to share my sleeping bag for tonight. No way in hell am I letting you sleep on the ground."

"If you say so…" Robin said. She was still blushing, of course, but there was a tone of excitement in her voice, and Sakura rooted it out.

"After you," Naruto joked as he held his sleeping bag open for her to lie down. Giggling, she gave Naruto another peck on the cheek before accepting his offer. After she got settled, Naruto joined her, and in no time at all, they were cuddling.

The sight of them together made Sakura want to punch the two of them, but she had no choice but to let it go. She slowly pulled out her own sleeping bag and stuck herself in it. She looked over at Sasuke and saw that he was already asleep.

Thirty minutes later, she heard Naruto and Robin whispering to each other. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that they were so close that their noses were touching. They seemed to be gossiping about something, laughing every now and then.

Eventually, Sakura saw Robin mouth the words "good night" to Naruto. Almost as if expecting it, she saw Robin give Naruto a kiss on the lips. Naruto was shocked for a quick second, but eventually returned the kiss with a deeper one. The kiss was so deep that the two of them practically dripped strings of each other's saliva.

They broke away for air. Robin looked over at Naruto, who was also gasping for air. They both smiled at each other, and with a kiss on his forehead, Robin laid her head on his chest and the two of them fell asleep.

This sight tore her in two. She looked away from them and started to silently cry. What was going to happen? Are they officially a couple now? Does Naruto like her anymore? She knew one thing for sure, though.

Robin just stole the love of her life.


	21. Ch19 - Robin's Past

**A/N: Can't say that I'm feeling any better, but I feel like I owe you some quick updates. So…here you go :D**

**(kidloco) – Where were you during the last two chapters? :O **

**(butterfly) – THIS is a review. Thank you, and you make a good point. This is the point of Robin: She's basically Sakura's foil character. Robin would never hit Naruto or scold him in a terrifying manner. You'll see in this chapter. **

**(Lonely Athena) – I hope you don't get too many heart attacks lol. Naru x Rob has only just begun :D**

**(Tahkz01) – Read this chapter ;) Thanks for caring about me, though. **

**(Akshobhya) – Thanks for the criticism. I really mean it. So what do you want, then? More taijutsu or genjutsu? **

**(Zatheko) – Naruto won't be with Sakura until a long time later. Hopefully, you'll still be here by then **

**(The Keeper of Worlds) – You're first! :O College is no excuse ;) And what was creepy about the opening? Me being down, the dumbass who suggested Naru X Kush, or the future foreshadowing? **

**(Whore who keeps bugging me about Naru X Kush) – Yes, I read it. It was well made, but the coupling felt wrong. It really rubbed me the wrong way. At least Minato wasn't bashed! :D**

**But please don't bug me about this anymore. This is a Naru X Saku story, and I really support Mina X Kush. **

"Kakashi what?!" Naruto screamed at the villager. The villager cried out for help.

"Naruto, calm down!" Robin told him, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Naruto released the villager.

"Did you just say that Kakashi left the village?" Sasuke asked the villager.

"Yes, I'm sure! He left me this note to give to you guys!" the villager said as he shakily handed the letter over to Sasuke.

"What does it say?" Sakura asked him. Sasuke read it aloud.

_**Dear my little champs, **_

_**I know you guys won't forgive me, but I've decided to leave with Rin. By now, you should already know why. I owe Rin that much, and this is the least I could do for her. Do I hope for your forgiveness? Yes. And if you choose not to forgive me? Well, since I'll probably never see you again, I guess it doesn't really matter either way. Please don't try to find me. We're somewhere you'll never find, so it's inevitable trying to find me. I hope you manage to capture Yajai and free the Hidden Leaf Village from his genjutsu. Good luck. **_

_**Your ex-mentor, Kakashi. **_

"We gotta go find him!" Sakura told the crew. Sasuke shook his head.

"Didn't you hear?" he asked her. "Kakashi doesn't want us to find him. Not to mention that he's in a very secluded area. There's no point trying to go look for him."

"So you're saying we shouldn't try?" she asked him in disbelief. "He's been our sensei for as long as I can remember! He—"

"Sakura-san," Robin said to her gently. Sakura gave her a death glare, in which Robin only stared through. "You can't make him—"

"What do you know?" Sakura shouted at her. Sasuke pulled her back a bit, but that did little to calm her down. "Do you have any idea how important he is to Team 7?! It's not like you'd understand, anyways!"

"Sakura-san, I know that—" Robin started to say before Sakura nailed her across the face. Hard. Robin's body slammed against the ground. She was unconscious now.

"Don't you dare call me Sakura-san. You're just kissing up to—"

"Sakura, that's enough!" Naruto screamed at her. He did it again. He screamed at her. Why? Because of that stupid know-it-all, Robin.

Sakura matched Naruto's gaze, and what she saw was not the same gaze Naruto gave her when they were kids. This one was full anger and hatred.

"I had enough of this façade. Stop acting as if this is Robin's fault! It's not her fault. Why are you treating her like a traitor?"

Sakura immediately dropped her hatred, which was replaced by self-pity. "Naruto, don't you see? She acted like she knew everything about this team when she doesn't know a single thing! She's just trying to kiss up to you because she...well, because she likes you! That would—"

"I love her!" Naruto yelled in her face. That was it. Those three words were the killing blow. Naruto looked like he regretted saying that, but he kept ranting.

"You don't know her at all! You don't know the hell she's endured! Her childhood was much worse than mine!"

Sasuke had to hold him back before he got violent. "Naruto, calm down! She's Sakura, remember? You used to like her, remember?"

That sentence made Naruto laugh. Hysterically. "Don't give me that bullshit, Sasuke." Naruto pointed a finger accusingly at Sakura. "It's true, I did like her. No, I **loved **her! But you know what? No matter what I did, whether I presented her with flowers or threw parties for her, it was never acknowledged! It was always 'Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun!'"

Sakura started to tear up, not in self-pity, but because of the truth in Naruto's words. She never acknowledged his kind gestures when they were younger. When Naruto failed to retrieve Sasuke, she blamed him for it. What right did she have to wish for his love?

"Robin actually loves me! I know she does!" Naruto screamed with a hoarse voice. He was starting to crack up.

"How do you know for sure, Naruto?" Sasuke asked him. Naruto, wiping his tears away, took a deep breath as he retold Robin's backstory.

XXXXX

"_She's pretty hot, isn't she?" a young boy asked his friends when he saw young Robin walking home from school. _

"_Yeah, she is. Nice sets of breasts, too," another one added with a devious grin. _

"_What do you guys have in mind?" the third one asked. _

_The first guy answered him. "Let's follow her." _

_XXXXX_

"_Robin!" a young blonde girl screamed joyfully as she ran up to Robin. _

"_Minzi!" Robin exclaimed with a smile as she ran up to hug her best friend. Robin and Minzi were practically sisters. They did everything together. They studied together, they gossiped together, they gardened together. They did everything together. They were the bestest of friends. _

"_Are you going home?" Minzi asked Robin. _

"_Yeah, I am. My dad will be angry if I don't get home by five o' clock." _

"_That's still thirty minutes away," Minzi answered her. "Say, you want to take a quick walk before then?"_

"_A walk where?" Robin asked her slyly. Minzi giggled. _

"_How about to the park? Then we can go home together." _

"_Sounds good to me!" Robin answered her with a grin. "Race you?"_

"_You're on, you raven-haired brat!" Minzi teased with a poker face. The duo started sprinting towards the direction of the park, greeting their peers and random strangers as they ran by. _

_When they neared an alleyway, the three male stalkers departed from the alleyway's shadow and halted the two girls. _

"_Um, can I help you?" Minzi said. _

"_Fuck off, ugly," the front guy shouted at her. _

"_Hey, don't talk to my friend like that!" Robin shot back at him. The boy slapped her across the face. _

"_Don't use that tone with me, you slut. From now on, you're our bitch."_

_Robin knew what was coming, and naturally, so did Minzi. Minzi jumped up and bit the arm of the front guy, making him cry out in pain. _

"_Ah, get this whore off me!" the boy yelled to his companions. _

"_Run, Robin!" Minzi ordered her, her voice muffled with the boy's arm in her mouth. Robin shook her head and tried to go help her, but Minzi wildly shook her head. _

"_Run, Robin!" Minzi screamed at her! "Run!" _

_Robin tore herself apart as she tried to think of what to do. Following her friend's last wish, she decided to run, and the only thing she saw when she looked back was a kunai dug deep in Minzi's throat. _

_XXXXX_

"_Let go of me!" Robin shouted to her violators. _

"_Not happening, babe," the boy said. _

"_You killed my best friend!" Robin screamed as she spat on the boy's face. He took it calmly. _

"_Who'll miss her, anyway?" the boy answered her with a hearty laugh. His buddies did the same. _

_Robin couldn't hold back her tears anymore. The thought of her best friend, her sister, sacrificing her life to save hers was unbearable. There were rivers of salty water falling from her eyes and she didn't know how to make it stop. To add insult to injury, she knew that she was about to get raped. _

"_Aw, don't cry, babe," the boy said with a devious grin. "Here, we'll make you feel all better." Her clothes were torn. The boy and his buddies' pants dropped down. And, just like that, she lost her virginity at the mere age of 13. _

_XXXXXX_

"_Get out of the house!" Robin's dad yelled at her. _

"_Please don't make me leave, dad!" Robin begged him. _

"_No! I don't need a stain on this family! Having random sex like that…I didn't raise you that way!" _

"_I told you I was raped!" _

_The dad threw a tantrum. "Get out NOW!" _

_Robin, without anything left to say, ran away with tears in her eyes. _

_XXXXX_

"_Some food, please?" Robin begged a woman. _

"_Get off of me, heathen!" the woman scolded her. "How dare you touch me, you beggar?" _

"_I…I'm sorry. I'm just really hungry. I don't know how long I'll last at this rate…" Robin said softly. _

_The woman scoffed. "Good. Go ahead and die. It's not like anybody would miss you." With that, the woman left. _

_Robin didn't cry. She hadn't cried since she was kicked out. There were just no tears left to shed. The worse had already come. There was nothing left to cry about. _

"_Oh look, the dealers are here," Robin said normally as a gang armed to the teeth arrived. Ten minutes later, she was hanging off a lamppost, on the verge of death. _

_XXXXX_

"_Where am I?" Robin said as she sat up. She seemed to be at a rather rich house. Her injuries were treated and there were cookies and milk on the table next to her. She didn't care if she was allowed to eat it or not, she was too hungry to care. She started gulping down the food one by one until she heard a woman laugh. _

"_Hungry, are we?" the woman asked her sarcastically. _

"_Please don't hurt me! I'm just really hungry, that's all!" Robin said as she guarded herself. Looking up, she saw the woman smiling at her. _

"_Honey!" the woman called to someone. "The girl's awake!" _

_Footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway. A rather handsome man appeared next to his wife. He gave his wife a quick kiss before he turned his attention to Robin. _

"_Ah, you're awake!" the man said with a bright smile. "Good! You're injuries were very bad. If we hadn't found you during our evening walk, you would probably be dead by now!" _

_She didn't know why, but Robin started to sob. Just seeing this much happiness in a person was overwhelming for her. The wife made her way to Robin and embraced her. Robin jumped a bit at the touch, but eventually eased up. It was nice to be under her embrace. The woman smelled like cherry. _

"_There, there, darling, there's no need to cry. You can stay here for as long as you want." _

"_B…but I'm a big hassle to take care of. I eat a lot, I'm not very feminine, and—"_

_The man laughed. The two females looked at the man in confusion. When the man stopped, he sighed. _

"_Ah, she sounds just like you, honey," the man said to his wife. _

"_Shut up, nitwit," the woman said with a laugh. The joy those two shared made Robin smile for the first time in a long. _

"_What's your name, sweetie?" _

"_My friends call Robin. Nice to meet you." _

"_It's a pleasure to meet you, Robin," the woman said with a very bright smile. Robin smiled back at her with an equally bright smile. _

"_Well, let me introduce ourselves. I am Kushina Uzumaki, and this is my husband, Minato Namikaze."_

_XXXXX_

"Do you see now?" Naruto asked his peers. Nobody dared answer him. Sakura wasspeechless. She was so jealous of Robin that she didn't even ask her about her past.

Robin, who was already awake, cried heavily. Naruto tried to tend to her, but she kept on crying.

"Why are you crying, Robin-chan?" Naruto asked her as he placed his hand on her cheek. She held his hand firmly.

"There has only been three happy moments in my life," Robin answered him in a rather uneven tone. "Everything else was hell for me. F…first was when I met my friend, Minzi."

Saying her name made Robin cry twice as hard. Naruto had to pick her up and place her head on his chest to sooth her.

"My second happiest moment was when Minato and Kushina adopted me. I was so grateful for their help. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for them. I love them to death, and I would do anything to get them back."

"I do, too, Robin," Naruto said as he gently stroked her raven hair. "Though I didn't know them in real life, I love them just as any son loves his mom and dad."

There was a silence to let everything soak in.

"My third happiest moment…" Robin trailed off for a second. The group waited for her answer. She placed her hand on Naruto cheeks and gave him the biggest smile she could.

"My third happiest moment…was when I met you, Naruto."


	22. Ch20 - The Competition

**A/N: Seriously, fuck my life… **

**(imsabbel) – Thank you for the criticism. I mean it. **

**For one, you'd be right. Sakura is sort of OOC. However, keep in mind that she is in love (true love, not the boyish love-at-first-sight kind of love) and that she's losing her lover to somebody else. Obviously, she wouldn't just tank through her depressions. However, just for you, I'll toughen her up a little bit in this chapter. **

**I really don't see how I could make Naruto love Robin more than Sakura without Robin having a tragic background. **

**I'm really sorry for not writing Sakura right, but I'm a NaruHina fan at heart. Throughout writing this story, I've stumbled into sections where I made Sakura stutter "N-Naruto-kun" many times, so you'll have to excuse me for making Sakura a little OOC. **

**(kidloco) – I hope you feel better, bud. What happened to your account? Why are you a guest? **

**(butterflyV) - Actually, what Naruto said IS true. He does love Robin. Keep reading to find out how that changes ;)**

**(Guest) – I never get tired of people saying "I'm sooo exited." It really makes me think my story is worth reading. Thanks. **

**(Zatheko) – It's not going to be easy lol. However, you have my word that Naruto will end up with Sakura. **

**(The Keeper of Worlds) – I'd really love to spoil the ending for you right now, but I won't. Just remember that "nothing is as it seems" ;) **

**(Everyone) – You guys should know that I love you guys. A lot. When I first made this story, I never would've imagined that it'd be this successful. I mean, c'mon, over 30,000+ views and 128 reviews? That's more than I would've dreamed for this story! Thanks guys, I mean it. **

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Here," Sakura said calmly as she gave Robin her bento. Robin smiled at her and thanked her for it. Team 7 had just left the village two days ago to continue their mission. Naruto begged his team for Robin to come along, and the group agreed, even Sakura.

Sakura held no more hate for Robin. They've actually been getting closer ever since Robin's backstory was revealed. Sakura treated her like a little sister, carrying her stuff, giving her advice, making her laugh. Robin was ecstatic when Sakura had the sudden change of heart. Sakura reminded her of her old friend, Minzi.

"Hold still," Sakura commanded her as she wiped away some crumbs on Robin's face.

"Stop treating me like a child!" Robin said innocently.

"You act like a child, you get treated as a child," Sakura said with a smile.

"Guys, we're back," they heard Sasuke say. Naruto trailed up right behind him.

"How many animals did you kill?" Sakura asked them.

"We killed twenty two in total, but…" Sasuke started to say.

"But what?" Sakura asked him with a mischievous glare.

"Let's just say that they aren't in any condition to be eaten right now," Sasuke said as he looked down at the floor. Sakura sighed as Robin started to laugh.

"How did you kill them to the point of being inedible?" Sakura screamed at him.

"Amaterasu and Rasen-shurikens do a lot of damage, you know," Sasuke calmly replied.

"You don't need high tier moves like that to kill a bunch of animals!" Sakura scolded him.

"Robin, are you alright?" Naruto asked her as he walked past Sakura. They haven't said a word to each other since their big "fight." Actually, Naruto was the one ignoring Sakura. Sakura was just letting him calm down before she decided to talk to him.

"I'm fine, Naru-kun," Robin said with a bright smile. Naruto reached down and gave her a little peck on the lips as he sat down next to her.

"Here," Naruto said as he handed her a small box.

"What is it?" she asked him.

"Open it."

When she did, she gasped in excitement. It was a shiny pearl.

"Naruto, where did you get this?" she asked him. Sasuke answered her question before Naruto could react.

"He dived into a bay and scooped it up from the bottom of the basin. But you want to know what the best part is?"

Robin nodded her head in anticipation while Sakura crossed her arms in anticipation.

"He fought three sharks underwater."

Robin stared at Naruto with wide eyes. "You fought three sharks underwater…to get this for me?" Naruto blushed.

"You want to know something better?" Sasuke asked her. Naruto glared at him.

"Don't you dare tell her!" Naruto screamed at him.

"Sorry, I gotta. It's what 'brothers' do, right?" Sasuke rebutted with a heavy smirk.

"Teme, if you say one word—"

"A SHARK BIT NARUTO'S HIP!" Sasuke shouted before Naruto could react. Robin dropped her smile immediately after those words came out. Ignoring Naruto's protests, she lifted his sweater to find a bite mark on his left hip. The shark got him deep.

"Oh my god!" Robin said in horror. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Naruto said to her with a smile. "It's just a minor flesh wound."

"How do you call this a 'minor' flesh wound?" Robin asked him in disbelief. "Sakura!"

"I'm already on it," Sakura said as she pulled out a bag of medical supplies. "You guys need to leave. This needs to be done alone."

Naruto looked as if he was against the idea, but Robin nodded quickly. "Sure! C'mon, Sasuke!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Sasuke said before she could pull him out. When they left, Sakura sat down next to Naruto and lifted his sweater up to get a good look at the wound. She didn't notice it before, but Naruto had a really muscular torso. Looking up, she saw him blushing, which in turn made her blush as well.

She dropped the dirty thoughts she had and took out a healing balm she bought from the Konoha Market. She scooped up a piece of the balm with her fingers and gently smothered it on Naruto's wound.

She heard him sigh in relief, which meant that it felt good. "That should do it," she finally said when she was done with the treatment. "Don't wash or wipe it away for a whole twenty four hours and you should be fine."

Naruto nodded silently at her. Probably guessing that Naruto didn't want to be anywhere near her, she decided to pick up her supplies and leave. To her surprise, however, she felt Naruto tug her back. His head was still down when he talked to her.

"Here, this is for you," he softly said. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a beautiful pearl. It was exactly like the one he gave Robin.

"For…me?" Sakura asked him in shock. She bit her lip at the sudden gesture. "Wait, I thought you were mad at me."

"Well, at first, I was mad at you. I think I still am a little bit. But I guess it's not entirely your fault."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked him.

"It's just that…when Robin came, I started to completely ignore you. Not only you, but Sasuke as well. In all honesty, it's probably my fault."

Sakura smiled at him. "Don't weigh yourself down like that, Naruto. It's not all your fault. Some of it was mine, too. I guess I…kinda got jealous, and in the process, became spiteful towards Robin. Maybe if I treated her like I treat her now, this would never have happened."

Naruto smiled back at her. "Well, no point reveling in the past. It's the present and future that matters!"

"I hope Kakashi-sensei will be part of 'our future' as well."

"We all do, Sakura, we all do."

**XXXXXXX**

"What do you think about this one, Naruto?" Sakura asked him, giving him the kunai to look at. The two of them were at a weapon smith, buying new weapons for their crew. Sasuke and Robin were going to the food market to buy more food surplus.

After closer inspection, he smiled. "Perfect! This kinda reminds me of my father's kunai…"

"You know what you're father's kunai looked like?" Sakura asked him in surprise.

"Yeah. It's mounted on a wall in the Hokage Mansion. It's one of the only things looted from his body after he—" Naruto stopped himself.

"You don't have to tell me, Naruto. I know how much it pains you."

"Thanks."

They continued through the store, scavenging weapons worth inspecting. They found a very well-crafted sword made back during the Third Shinobi War. It had a golden handle with the head of a lion on it and had the blade of a curvy, zigzag like-sword.

"Hmm, this looks like a nice sword for the teme," Naruto said sarcastically as he brought the sword to his eyes.

"You have a point," Sakura added. "Sasuke's sword is getting rather rusty these days."

"Alright then, I'll buy it. Ossan! How much is this sword worth?"

A wrinkly old man with glasses stared at him for a while before answering. "100,000 Ryu."

Naruto and Sakura were taken back by the man's unfair sense of mercantile. "100,000 Ryu?" Naruto asked him in horror. "For this?"

"Boy, do you realize how valuable that sword is?" the old man nagged him. "It was said that the sword was used by Izuna Uchiha himself!"

"Who the hell is that?" Naruto asked him as he scratched his head.

"He said an Uchiha wielded it," Sakura reminded him. "More the reason to buy the sword for Sasuke."

"100,000 Ryu, Sakura-chan!" he complained. "I don't have that much right now!"

Sakura bit her lip as she turned to the old man. "Is there any other way we can take this blade off of your hands?"

The old man glared at her, but eventually nodded. "Why yes, there is something you can do for me."

"I swear, if you have any pervy thoughts right now, ossan, I will shove—"

"Calm down, boy! I'm not like that! In fact, the favor requires the both of you."

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement and waited for the old man's response.

"There is a festival in town right now. A competition is taking place during the festival and the winning prize is rather intriguing to me. Go win it."

"Why don't you?" Naruto asked him.

"For one, I'm old as hell. I can't compete in a competition. Secondly, the competition requires a couple."

"A couple?" Sakura asked him, swallowing a bit of saliva in the back of her throat.

"Yeah. You know, like a boyfriend or girlfriend."

"Is it required to join the competition?" Sakura questioned him. She didn't know why, but she started to feel kind of…happy.

"Yes, it's required. Some of those…games require the two to be romantically dedicated to each other."

Sakura looked over at Naruto, who she could see smiling a bit. When he saw her looking at him, he turned his head away from her.

"Okay," Sakura agreed. "We'll do it."

"Good, now scram!" the old man shooed them.

As they exited the building, Sakura turned to talk to Naruto.

"So, should you go get Robin…or…"

"She's like an hour away from here."

"Then…"

Naruto got down on his knees and held her hand. "Be my girlfriend?"


End file.
